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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2008, p. 833-839, Vol. 74, No. 3
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01559-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Production of a Monoclonal Antibody Specific for the Major Outer Membrane Protein of Campylobacter jejuni and Characterization of the Epitope

Hongliang Qian,^1, Ervinna Pang,^1, Qingyun Du,^1, Jason Chang,¹ Jin Dong,¹ Say Ling Toh,² Fook Kheong Ng,² Ai Ling Tan,³ and Jimmy Kwang^1,4*

Animal Health Biotechnology Group, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Singapore,¹ Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore, Singapore,² Diagnostic Bacteriology, Department of Pathology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore,³ Department of Microbiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore⁴

Received 10 July 2007/ Accepted 18 November 2007

Campylobacter species are important enteric pathogens causing disease in humans and animals. There is a lack of a good immunological test that can be used routinely to separate Campylobacter jejuni from other Campylobacter species. We produced monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) directed against the major outer membrane protein (MOMP) of C. jejuni using recombinant MOMP as the antigen. One MAb, designated MAb5C4 and of the immunoglobulin G1 isotype, was found to be potentially specific for C. jejuni. Dot blots demonstrated that MAb5C4 reacted with all 29 isolates of C. jejuni tested but did not react with 2 C. jejuni isolates, 26 other Campylobacter spp. isolates, and 19 non-Campylobacter isolates. Western blotting showed that MAb5C4 bound to a single protein band approximately 43 kDa in size, corresponding to the expected size of C. jejuni MOMP. The detection limit of MAb5C4 in a dot blot assay was determined to be about 5 x 10³ bacteria. The epitope on the MOMP was mapped to a region six amino acids in length with the sequence ²¹⁶GGQFNP²²¹, which is 97% conserved among C. jejuni strains but divergent in other Campylobacter spp.; a GenBank search indicated that 95% of C. jejuni isolates will be able to be detected from non-Campylobacter spp. based on the highly specific and conserved region of the GGQFNP polypeptide. The epitope is predicted to be located in a region that is exposed to the periplasm. MAb5C4 is a potentially specific and sensitive MAb that can be used for the specific detection and identification of C. jejuni.

Published ahead of print on 7 December 2007.

H.Q., E.P., and Q.D. contributed equally to this study.