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| Author(s): |
Ana Tung Ching Ching
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB/SDI) |
| Defense date: | 2012-12-03 |
| Examining board members: |
Paulo Lee Ho;
Ângela Silva Barbosa;
Ricardo José Giordano;
Carlos Roberto Prudencio;
Armando Morais Ventura
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| Advisor: | Paulo Lee Ho |
| Abstract | |
Leptospirosis is a worldwide important zoonosis caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira. In Brazil, most cases is caused by L. interrogans serovar Copenhageni. Our goal was to identify leptospiras adhesins by phage display technique. Libraries of genomic fragments resulted in the identification of ligands with affinity for leptospiras hamster tissues. Screening these libraries against heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG) identified the proteins LigA and LigB. Recombinant proteins were produced and subjected to binding to mammalian cells and extracellular matrix components. LigB recombinant was able to bind to HSPG, heparin and mammalian cells. HSPG and heparin were able to significantly reduce the interaction of this protein with cells. These results highlight the role of leptospiras proteins in its interaction with the host and illustrate the possibility of the use of phage display technique to identify potential adhesins. (AU) | |