Protein candidates for paratuberculosis serodiagnosis in cattle

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) causes chronic enteritis of ruminants (bovine paratuberculosis-Johne disease) that is associated with enormous worldwide economic losses for the zootechnical industry. Eradication programs and the management limitations for this disease have been hampered by the lack of simple and specific diagnostic tests for detecting the disease in subclinically infected animals that is a symptom-free condition. Furthermore, MAP is ubiquitous and it can be found in soil and water of the infected farms, actually there is no effective method to detect it. A good and sensitive diagnostic method is required to avoid the spread and for the eradication of this pathology that afflicts most ruminant species of farm animals. An immunoproteomic approach has been applied to detect immunoreactive proteins that could be used as tools for the detection of bovine paratuberculosis. Identified proteins could be used as targets to develop ELISA tests as well as epitopes to develop specific antibodies for MAP detection. The sequence of identified proteins is currently being aligned with similar bacterial proteins in order to find the non-conserved epitopes for MAP specific detection.