Evaluation of the protective immunity of Riemerella anatipestifer OmpA

Riemerella anatipestifer is responsible for an economically important disease of commercially raised ducks. No or only few cross-protection was observed between different serotypes of R. anatipestifer strains, and so far no protective antigen in this bacterium has been identified. OmpA is a predominant immunogenic protein of R. anatipestifer, and within the 1467 bp ompA ORF (ompA1467), there is another 1164 bp ORF (ompA1164) with the same C-terminal. In this study, our results showed that the full sequence of ompA1467 from some R. anatipestifer strains with different serotypes shared the same amino acid sequence. Animal experiments showed that the soluble recombinant protein rOmpA1164, but not rOmpA1467, could provide partial protective immunity against challenge. Moreover, there was no significant difference in protective immunity between ducklings immunized with Th4△ompA bacterin and those immunized with Th4 bacterin. In addition, OmpA1467 was the main existing form of OmpA in R. anatipestifer cells by gel electrophoresis and western blot analyses. The results suggested that OmpA1467 was not a protective antigen of R. anatipestifer, and antibodies against proteins other than OmpA play a critical role in the process of anti-R. anatipestifer infection.