%0 Journal Article %A Ghosh, Karukriti Kaushik %A Prakash, Aman %A Shrivastav, Prateek %A Balamurugan, Vinayagamurthy %A Kumar, Manish %T Evaluation of a novel outer membrane surface-exposed protein, LIC13341 of Leptospira, as an adhesin and serodiagnostic candidate marker for leptospirosis %D 2018 %J Microbiology, %V 164 %N 8 %P 1023-1037 %@ 1465-2080 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.000685 %K lipoprotein %K extracellular matrix component %K ELISA %K Leptospira %K antibodies %K recombinant protein %I Microbiology Society, %X The outer membrane proteins of the pathogen are targeted to understand host–pathogen interactions and are central to the development of diagnostics. We report that Leptospira interrogans serovar Copenhageni strain Fiocruz L1-130 contains a gene LIC13341 that encodes a conserved outer membrane/periplasmic lipoprotein. The gene LIC13341 was cloned into expression vector pET28a and the recombinant LIC13341 (r-LIC13341) protein was purified from Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) using affinity chromatography. The secondary structure of the purified r-LIC13341 protein featured a typical β-strand when observed by circular dichroism spectroscopy. Immunoblotting using antibodies raised against r-LIC13341 in BALB/c mice can detect LIC13341 expression in the Leptospira lysates and suggested that antigen LIC13341 is immunogenic. Phase separation and protease assays determined that LIC13341 is a surface-exposed outer membrane protein of Leptospira. The r-LIC13341 can bind to a wide spectrum of host extracellular matrices (ECMs). The specific adherence of Leptospira to laminin and hyaluronic acid of the ECM was competitively inhibited in the presence of r-LIC13341. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunoblot performed using human or bovine leptospirosis serum (n=50) recognized r-LIC13341, suggesting that LIC13341 is expressed in diverse hosts during Leptospira infection. Thus, the present finding suggests that the Leptospira LIC13341 antigen is a versatile outer membrane adhesin of diagnostic importance. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.000685