• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.503-510
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• 2013

Toxoplasma gondii is an apicomplexan parasite with a broad host range of most warm-blooded mammals including humans, of which one-thirds of the human population has been infected worldwide which can cause congenital defects, abortion, and neonatal complications. Here, we developed a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) for T. gondii infection. Antigenic N-terminal half of the major surface antigen (SAG1) was linked with intrinsically unstructured domain (IUD) of dense granule protein 2 (GRA2). The recombinant GST-GRA2-SAG1A protein was successfully expressed and purified as 51 kDa of molecular weight. Furthermore, antigenicity and solubility of the rGST-GRA2-SAG1A protein were significantly increased. The overall specificity and sensitivity of GST-GRA2-SAG1A loaded RDT (TgRDT) were estimated as 100% and 97.1% by comparing with ELISA result which uses T. gondii whole cell lysates as the antigen. The TgRDT tested with Uganda people sera for field trial and showed 31.9% of seroprevalence against T. gondii antibody. The TgRDT is proved to be a kit for rapid and easy to use with high accuracy, which would be a suitable serodiagnostic tool for toxoplasmosis.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.367-376
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• 2014

Recombinant antigenic proteins of Toxoplasma gondii are alternative source of antigens which are easily obtainable for serodiagnosis of toxoplasmosis. In this study, highly antigenic secretory organellar proteins, dense granular GRA2 and GRA3, rhoptrial ROP2, and micronemal MIC2, were analyzed by bioinformatics approach to express as water-soluble forms of antigenic domains. The transmembrane region and disorder tendency of 4 secretory proteins were predicted to clone the genes into pGEX-4T-1 vector. Recombinant plasmids were transformed into BL21 (DE3) pLysS E. coli, and GST fusion proteins were expressed with IPTG. As a result, GST fusion proteins with $GRA2_{25-105}$, $GRA3_{39-138}$, $ROP2_{324-561}$, and $MIC2_{1-284}$ domains had respectively higher value of IgG avidity. The $rGST-GRA2_{25-105}$ and $rGST-GRA3_{39-138}$ were soluble, while $rGST-ROP2_{324-561}$ and $rGST-MIC2_{1-284}$ were not. $GRA2_{31-71}$, intrinsically unstructured domain (IUD) of GRA2, was used as a linker to enhance the solubility. The $rGST-GRA2_{31-71}-ROP2_{324-561}$, a chimeric protein, appeared to be soluble. Moreover, $rGST-GRA2_{31-71}-MIC2_{1-284}$ was also soluble and had higher IgG avidity comparing to $rGST-MIC2_{1-284}$. These 4 highly expressed and water-soluble recombinant antigenic proteins may be promising candidates to improve the serodiagnosis of toxoplasmosis in addition to the major surface antigen of SAG1.