Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 13, 2026

Peptide Scanning-assisted Identification of a Monoclonal Antibody-recognized Linear B-cell Epitope
Published on: March 24, 2017
Identification of a conserved linear B-cell epitope in the Staphylococcus aureus GapC protein
Mengyao Wang1, Yuhua Wei2, Wei Yu1
1College of Life Science and Technology, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing 163319, China.
Abstract:
The GapC protein of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a surface protein that is highly conserved among Staphylococcus strains, and it can induce protective humoral immune responses. However, B-cell epitopes in S. aureus GapC have not been reported. In this study, we generated a monoclonal antibody (mAb2A9) targeting S. aureus GapC. Through a passive immunity test, mAb2A9 was shown to partially protect mice against S. aureus infection. We screened the motif 236PVATGSLTE243 that is recognized by mAb2A9 using a phage-display system. The motif sequence exactly matched amino acids 236-243 of the S. aureus GapC protein. Then, we identified the key amino acids in the motif using site-directed mutagenesis. Site-directed mutagenesis revealed that residues P236, G240, L242, and T243 formed the core of the 236PVATGSLT243 motif. In addition, this epitope was proven to be located on the surface of S. aureus, and it induced a protective humoral immune response against S. aureus infection in immunized mice. Overall, our results characterized a conserved B-cell epitope, which will be an attractive target for designing effective epitope-based vaccines against S. aureus infection.
Related Concept Videos
Conservation of Protein Domains Over Different Proteins
A limited set of protein domains often duplicate and recombine during evolution. These domains can be organized in different combinations to...
Conservation of Linear Momentum for a System of Particles
The impulsive force at play during this interaction is of extremely short duration, rendering its impulse negligible. When...
Conserved Binding Sites
Binding sites are often located in large pockets, and if their location on a protein’s surface is unknown, it can be predicted using various approaches. The energetic method computationally...
Conservation of Protein Domains
What is Conservation Biology?
Conservation of Small Populations

