Immunoproteomic analysis of fish ectoparasite, Argulus siamensis antigens.

AIM: An immunoproteomic approach was followed to identify immunoreactive antigens of fish ectoparasite, Argulus siamensis with rohu (Labeo rohita) immune sera for screening of potential vaccine candidates. MATERIALS AND RESULTS: The whole adult Argulus antigen was run in 2D electrophoresis with IEF in 7 cm IPG strips of pH 4-7 and SDS-PAGE with 12% acrylamide concentration. Two parallel gels were run; one was stained with silver stain, and the other was Western blotted to nitrocellulose paper (NCP) and reacted with rohu anti-A siamensis sera. Fourteen protein spots corresponding to the spots developed in NCP were picked from the silver-stained gel and subjected to mass spectrometry in MALDI-TOF/TOF. The MS/MS spectra were analysed in MASCOT software with taxonomy 'other metazoa' and the proteins identified based on similarity with the proteins from heterologous species. The gene ontology analysis revealed a majority of proteins being involved in binding activity in 'molecular function' and belonging to metabolic processes in 'biologic process' categories. The possibility of these proteins as vaccine candidates against A siamensis is discussed in the paper. CONCLUSION: Three of the identified proteins namely, bromodomain-containing protein, anaphase-promoting complex subunit 5 and elongation factor-2 could possibly serve as vaccine candidates against argulosis in carps.