Search

Streptococcus uberis (S. uberis ) is an important environmental pathogen causing mastitis in dairy cattle. Mastitis or mammary gland infection is the most common disease in milking cows and cause significant economic burden to farmers due to the reduction of the amount of milk and its quality. The development of rapid analytical methods for the determination of mastitis-causing pathogens in milk is of utmost importance for the early identification of the causes of mastitis and the beginning of timely treatment of cows. Combining in silico bioinformatic analysis and solid phase peptide synthesis using Fmoc chemistry, we have made two different peptides to mimic the adhesion protein of S. uberis, which is promoting the attachment of bacteria to epithelial cells. After purification with RP-HPLC, the peptides were conjugated with a larger carrier protein (KLH) and used for immunization of rabbits to produce specific antibodies. The separation of anti- S. uberis antibodies from rabbit blood antisera was carried out with affinity chromatography, using the synthetic peptides as affinity ligands. The purified antibodies showed high affinity and specificity towards S. uberis and were used for rapid bio-recognition and identification of S. uberis with an immunobiosensing system.

Streptococcus uberis is a major mastitis-causing environmental pathogen, which rapid immunodetection has not been possible due to the absence of specific anti-Str. uberis antibodies. Recently, a specific antibody against the Str. uberis adhesion molecule (SUAM) has been designed. In the present study, the specificity and affinity of this antibody towards SUAM antigenic region SAPVYLGVSTE and Str. uberis cells are characterized, using experimental and in silico bioinformatic methods. The selectivity studies and bioinformatic analyses revealed high specificity of the antibody towards Str. uberis. The Kd value of SAPVYLGVSTE/anti-Str. uberis antibody complex was 27 ± 6 nM, indicating the applicability of this antibody for the detection of Str. uberis. The anti-Str. uberis antibody was used as a specific biorecognition element of a biosensor for the detection of Str. uberis bacteria in phosphate buffer and in milk and these analyses took less than 20 min. The Str. uberis biosensor was also tested in the milk of cows suffering from mastitis and the obtained results were in good agreement with the conventional identification of this pathogen by microbiological plating.