نبذة مختصرة : Fusobacterium necrophorum is a Gram-negative, anaerobic, opportunistic pathogen that causes necrotic infections in cattle leading to liver abscess, foot rot, and calf diphtheria. Particularly, liver abscess in cattle is reported at 20.7% annually, and leads to liver condemnation and an annual economic burden of about 62 million dollars to the feedlot industry. Antibiotic administration is the mainstay of treating these infections, but antibiotic resistance is unavoidable and demand for antibiotic-free, natural, and organic beef has demanded alternative therapies and preventatives. Vaccination is one of the best alternatives to prophylactic antibiotic administration. In this study, we have explored outer membrane proteins (OMPs) and outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) for potential vaccine candidates. OMPs and OMVs are vaccine targets because of their antigenic properties and host specificity. Additionally, we performed comparative genomic analysis of F. necrophorum species to identify additional virulence genes with vaccine potential, unique to the F. necrophorum and its virulent subspecies necrophorum . Protein- protein interaction investigation through binding assay and pulldown assay identified novel OMPs, namely 17kDa, 22kDa, and 66.3 kDa proteins, which were further characterized as OmpH, OmpA and Cell Surface Protein (CSP), respectively. In this study, these novel OMPs including previously characterized 43kDa OMPs were cloned, and recombinant proteins were expressed and purified. These recombinant proteins were used to generate polyclonal antibodies in rabbits, and their efficacy was studied using in vitro adhesion inhibition assays. The combination of two or more antibodies raised against the recombinant OMPs was significantly effective in reducing/neutralizing bacterial binding to bovine endothelial cells compared to individual antibody treatment. This suggests that a multiple subunit vaccine could be effective and provide sufficient evidence to perform in vivo studies. Similarly, we purified OMVs of F. ...
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