PRODUCTION OF OUTER MEMBRANE (OM) PROTEINS IN GRAM-POSITIVE BACTERIA AND RECOVERY OF PROTECTIVE EPITOPES

摘要

The invention provides a method for producing cloned outer membrane (OM) protein from pathogenic gram-negative bacteria. The invention also provides a method for renaturing the cloned outer membrane protein thus produced so the cloned OM protein regains immunologically active epitopes which are capable of eliciting production of antibodies, in mammals and other animals, that are bactericidal and can provide protection against infection by the pathogenic gram-negative bacteria. According to the method, DNA encoding outer membrane protein from gram-negative bacteria, known to be pathogenic in humans and animals, is expressed in a gram-positive bacterial host. The recombinant or cloned OM protein thus produced is then renatured so as to regain biologically or immunologically active epitopes which are capable of eliciting production of antibodies in animals and humans; the antibodies are bactericidal and protect the animals and humans from infection by the pathogenic gram-negative bacteria from which the gene encoding the cloned OMP's was derived. The method of the invention is exemplified in part by the production of cloned and renatured class 1 outer membrane protein from Neisseria meningitidis, class 3 OM protein of Neisseria meningitidis and the OM protein OmpA of Escherichia coli.