Lymphocyte proliferative responses of goats vaccinated with Brucella melitensis 16M or a ΔpurE201 strain

Abstract

The response to a Brucella melitensis purEK deletion mutant, ΔpurE201 (referred to as strain 201), was compared with the response to its parental strain, 16M, in juvenile goats. Proliferative responses to γ-irradiated bacteria were detected earlier in strain 201-infected goats. Lymphocytes from strain 16M- or 201-infected goats proliferated in response to one-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis-separated proteins of similar mass isolated from strain 16M or Brucella abortus RB51. Data from this study suggest that some antigens stimulating cell-mediated responses are conserved among Brucella species, as 201- and 16M-infected goats recognized similar proteins expressed by RB51 and 16M.