Proteomics is an emerging powerful tool in studying protein expression and function. At present study, proteomics was employed to evaluate the antigenicity among Escherichia coli O157:H7 strains using 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and immunoblotting. SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting analysis revealed no big differences among E. coli O157:H7 strains. 2-DE analysis, however, revealed common antigens as well as specific antigens. The immunoblotting analysis revealed 20 common antigenic spots among E. coli O157:H7 strains. In addition, there were 3 and 13 spots as common antigens between ATCC 43894 and KSC 109, and between ATCC 43894 and ACH 5, respectively. Antigenic spots specific for individual strain were also identified as 15, 8 and 22 for ATCC 43894, ACH 5 and KSC 109, respectively.
The common antigens would be useful by employing either vaccine development or diagnosis marker, or both, whereas the specific antigens of individual strains would be applicable for epidemiological study. This study suggest that proteome analysis, representative as 2-DE, is valuable tool in exploring the E. coli antigenicity.
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