Isolation, partial purification, and immunogenicity of flagella from Tritrichomonas foetus

Tritrichomonas foetus, the agent of bovine trichomoniasis, is a flagellate protozoan responsible for substantial economic losses to the dairy and calf industries worldwide. As yet, there is no approved treatment nor is there a sensitive diagnostic method. All these problems suggest that immunization is the best control strategy. In view of this, we isolated and partially purified flagella of the parasite by vortex homogenization followed by low-speed differential centrifugation. The resulting enriched flagellar preparation termed "crude flagellar prep" was purified further by sucrose and percoll gradients. Microscopic analysis showed that the flagellar membrane was intact. Analysis by sodium dodecyl-sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed three prominent protein bands of 42, 49, and >250 kDa, and several minor bands. Immunoblotting of flagellar and whole-cell extracts revealed many flagellar antigens.