Mapping polyclonal antibody responses to bacterial infection using next generation phage display

Area of Science:

• Immunology
• Bacteriology
• Vaccine Development

Background:

• Mapping polyclonal antibody responses to infectious diseases is crucial for developing new diagnostic assays and vaccines.
• Identifying specific epitopes targeted by antibodies can improve understanding of host-pathogen interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a method for mapping antibody responses to bacterial infections using phage-peptide library panning and next-generation sequencing.
• To identify specific peptide mimotopes that can differentiate between infections caused by different serovars of Salmonella enterica.

Main Methods:

• Phage-peptide library panning was employed to screen antibody responses from infected animals.
• Next-generation sequencing was used to identify enriched peptide mimotopes.
• Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to validate the discriminatory potential of identified peptides.

Main Results:

• Seventy-seven peptide mimotopes were enriched against Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium infection in pigs, with 22 highly discriminatory in ELISA.
• Twenty-seven peptides were identified that specifically recognized antibodies from poultry infected with Salmonella Enteritidis compared to Salmonella Hadar.
• Fifteen of these peptides were tested, and 9 showed high discriminatory power for S. Enteritidis infection.

Conclusions:

• Phage-peptide library panning coupled with next-generation sequencing is an effective method for mapping antibody responses to bacterial pathogens.
• The identified peptide mimotopes show potential for developing novel serological assays to differentiate Salmonella serovars.
• This approach can aid in the development of targeted vaccines and diagnostics for bacterial infections.