A potential approach to antifertility vaccine by expression of sperm membrane peptide in Salmonella

A synthetic oligonucleotide, HSD-2a, encoding a peptide segment of the extracellular domain of a human sperm membrane protein, YWK-II, was inserted by blunt-end ligation at the EcoRV site in the hypervariable, antigenically determinant region IV of Salmonella flagellin gene fliC (d). The recombinant plasmid (pLS408-H1) was transferred into the nonpathogenic aroA live vaccine Salmonella dublin strain SL5928, which is flagellin-negative. Location of the HSD-2a protein on the surface of the flagella was demonstrated by ELISA and by immunogold-labeling electron microscopy using mouse anti-YWK-II antiserum. A 60 kD protein, corresponding to the chimeric flagellin, was isolated from the recombinant S. dublin and found to contain the expressed HSD-2a peptide determined by Western blot analysis using anti-YWK-II antiserum. The Salmonella strain carrying the recombinant plasmid-pLS408-H1 may thus be a potential source of antifertility vaccine.