Cloning and expression of a 48-kilodalton Babesia caballi merozoite rhoptry protein and potential use of the recombinant antigen in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

A cDNA expression library prepared from Babesia caballi merozoite mRNA was screened with a monoclonal antibody BC11D against the rhoptry protein of B. caballi merozoite. A cDNA encoding a 48-kDa protein of B. caballi was cloned and designated BC48. The complete nucleotide sequence of the BC48 gene had 1,828 bp and was shown to contain no intron. Southern blotting analysis indicated that the BC48 gene contained more than two copies in the B. caballi genome. Computer analysis suggested that this sequence contained an open reading frame of 1,374 bp with a coding capacity of approximately 52 kDa. The recombinant protein expressed by the vaccinia virus vector in horse cells had an apparent molecular mass of 48 kDa, which was the same as that of the native B. caballi 48-kDa protein. Moreover, recombinant proteins expressed by the pGEX4T expression vector in Escherichia call as glutathione S-transferase fusion proteins were used for antigen in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The ELISA was able to differentiate very clearly between B. caballi-infected horse sera and B. equi-infected horse sera or noninfected normal horse sera. These results suggest that this simple and highly sensitive test might be applicable to the detection of B. caballi-infected horses in the field.