Proteins and Antigens ofMycobacterium tuberculosis

作者：Åse Bengård Andersen, Patrick Joseph Brennan · 发表于：Tuberculosis · 年份：2014 · DOI：10.1128/9781555818357.ch21 · 被引用次数：51 · 研究领域：Escherichia coli research studies、Bacteriophages and microbial interactions、RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms

The proteins of the causative agent of tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, have been a major research topic almost since the days of the discovery of the organism by Robert Koch in 1882. The goals of subsequent efforts have been to identify antigens that may be important in conferring protection against tuberculosis. The search for improved diagnostic reagents such as improved skin test reagents and/or serological markers is another aspect of such studies. Obviously, each protein of M. tuberculosis, like proteins of any other organism, serves different functions. As discussed in this chapter, many bacterial proteins are highly conserved, not only within the genus Mycobacterium but also in a broad range of other bacterial species. One example is the group of stress or heat shock proteins that are produced in abundant quantities by M. tuberculosis and that exhibit at least 50% homology at the amino acid level with stress proteins from other bacterial species. A new group of researchers were thereby recruited to the field from other disciplines, and the microorganism was soon approached at both the DNA level and the protein level by the development of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) raised against M. tuberculosis. Five recombinant antigens have been produced in large enough quantities to be distributed to interested researchers through a WHO-organized "antigen bank". In gram-negative bacteria, the cell wall consists of three layers: the cytoplasmic membrane, the peptidoglycan...