Two novel IgG endopeptidases of Streptococcus equi

Abstract

Streptococcus equi ssp. equi causes strangles, a highly contagious and serious disease in the upper respiratory tract of horses. Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus, another subspecies of this genus, is regarded as an opportunistic commensal in horses. The present study describes the characterization of two novel immunoglobulin G (IgG) endopeptidases of these subspecies, IdeE2 and IdeZ2. Both enzymes display sequence similarities with two previously characterized IgG endopeptidases, IdeE of S. equi ssp. equi and IdeZ of S. equi ssp. zooepidemicus. IdeE2 and IdeZ2 display high substrate-specificity in comparison with IdeE and IdeZ, as they both completely cleave horse IgG, while the activity against IgG from mouse, rabbit, cat, cow, sheep and goat is low or absent. The potential use of IdeE and IdeE2 as vaccine components was studied in a mouse infection model. In this vaccination and challenge study, both enzymes induced protection against S. equi ssp. equi infection.

Keywords

Streptococcus equi; IdeE; IdeZ; IdeS; IgG endopeptidases; vaccine

Published in

FEMS Microbiology Letters
2009, volume: 298, number: 1, pages: 44-50

SLU Authors

• Hulting, Greta

  • Department of Molecular Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Frykberg, Lars

  • Department of Molecular Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Guss, Bengt

  • Department of Molecular Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science
Veterinary Science

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-6968.2009.01698.x

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/26105