Mycoplasma bovis (M.bovis) is an important pathogen that causes various bovine diseases, such as mastitis in cows and pneumonia in calves.The surface proteins are generally thought to play a central role in the pathogenesis of this organism.We screened buffing compund the entire genome of M.
bovis Hubei-1 and discovered a gene named vpmaX that encodes the 25 kDa variable surface lipoprotein A (VpmaX).Sequence analysis revealed that VpmaX contains several repetitive units and a typical bacterial lipoprotein signal sequence.The vpmaX gene was cloned and expressed in E.coli to obtain recombinant VpmaX (rVpmaX).
Western blot analysis using a rabbit antibody against rVpmaX demonstrated that VpmaX is a membrane protein.Immunostaining visualized via confocal laser scanning microscopy showed that rVpmaX was able to adhere to embryonic bovine lung Soccer - Shoes Outdoor - Womens cells (EBL), and this was also confirmed by a sandwich ELISA.In summary, a surface-localized adhesion protein was identified in M.bovis Hubei-1.