연쇄상구균(Streptococcus mutans GS-5)의 항원단백질 AgI/II의 N-terminus절편에 대한 항체형성

Generation of antibodies against N-terminus fragment of AgI/II protein from Streptococcus mutans GS-5

치아 우식은 구강 내 미생물에 의해 치아 석회 조직의 일부가 용해되고 파괴되는 감염성 질환이다. 치아 우식의 원인균은 Streptococcus mutans와 같은 Mutans streptococci로 알려져 있고, 이 미생물이 치면에 접착하여 군집을 형성하는 능력이 균의 독성에 중요한 역할을 한다. S. mutans가 치면의 타액성 피막에 부착하는 데에는 AgI/II와 같은 세포표면의 섬유성 단백질을 매개로 한다. 그러므로, AgI/II는 S. mutans GS-5에 대한 백신 개발에 적절한 목표가 된다. 본 실험은 S. mutans GS-5로부터 AgI/II 유전자를 복제하고 염기서열분석을 하였다. 복제된 AgI/II와 앞서 보고된 S. mutans GS-5의 해당 부위의 280개의 핵산은 완벽하게 일치하였다. 복제된 유전자를 두 부위로 절단하여 형질전환을 통해 재조합 단백질인 AgI/IImr을 얻었고, 정제된 재조합 단백질을 쥐에게 주입하여 다클론 항체를 얻었다. 추출된 다클론 항체는 AgI/IImr항원단백질에 반응하였고, 대조군으로 쓰인 단백질에는 반응하지 않았다.

Dental caries results from localized demineralization of tooth enamel by acids of bacterial origin produced from the fermentation of dietary sugars. A group of related oral bacteria, collectively known as mutans streptococci, are implicated as the primary etiological agents of human caries. Within this group, Streptococcus mutans has been known as a causative agent for dental caries. As well as acid production yielding the demineralization of tooth enamel, adherence and colonization of S. mutans to the teeth are also important for their virulence Cell-surface fibrillar proteins, which mediate adherence to the salivary pellicle are virulence components of mutans streptococci, and primary candidates for a human caries vaccine. Here we report that the AgI/II gene from S. mutans GS-5 were cloned by PCR amplification of the bacterial chromosomal DNA and the integrity of cloned genes were confirmed by nucleotide sequencing. Sequence analyses showed the sequence alignment of 280 nucleotides between the cloned AgI/II and the reported sequence of S. mutans GS-5 showed the perfect match The cloned genes which signal nucleotide was truncated, were transferred into bacterial expression vector and the recombinant proteins were purified as His-tag fusion proteins In order to generate polyclonal antibodies against the recombinant proteins, AgI/II mr, some $100{\mu}g$ of the proteins was injected into mice three times. It can be used for an effective vaccine production to prevent dental caries caused by pathogenic S. mutans.