• Vaccine Name: Brucella DNA vaccine encoding chimera BLSOmp31
• Target Pathogen: Brucella spp.
• Target Disease: Brucellosis
• Vaccine Ontology ID: VO_0001144
• Type: DNA vaccine
• Antigen: Brucella outer membrane protein and lumazine synthase from Brucella spp. (BLS) (Cassataro et al., 2007).
• DNA vaccine plasmid:
  • DNA vaccine plasmid name:
  • DNA vaccine plasmid VO ID: VO_0000214
• Preparation: To develop the chimerical plasmid, the BLSOmp31 DNA sequence was amplified by PCR using pETBLSOmp31 as template and sub-cloned in the pCI-neo vector (Promega, Madison, WI). The following oligonucleotides were constructed including restriction sites at the 5
• Virulence: None.
• Description: Brucella outer membrane protein and lumazine synthase from Brucella spp. (BLS) induce protection against Brucella spp. A novel mode of delivering these antigens was devised as a DNA vaccine (Cassataro et al., 2007).

Mouse Response

• Vaccination Protocol: Mice were anaesthetized and immunized by the intramuscular route with 100 ug of pcDNABLS, pCIOmp31, pCIBLSOmp31, pcDNABLS + pCIOmp31 (100
• Challenge Protocol: Thirty days after the last DNA injection, mice were challenged with 1 ×10^4 CFU of B. melitensis H38S or B. ovis (i.v.). Thirty days post challenge the animals were sacrificed and their spleens aseptically removed.
• Efficacy: Vaccinationof BALB/c mice with pCIBLSOmp31 provided optimal protection level against B. ovis (3.14 log), a value significantly higher than the protection elicited by the co-delivery of two plasmids (pCIOmp31+pcDNABLS) (2.20log) or by the Rev.1 vaccine (2.42 log). Mice vaccinated with pCIOmp31 exhibited a significant protection (2.24 log) against B. ovis; pcDNABLS induced 1.94log units of protection. pCIBLSOmp31 induced significantly higher protection (1.77log) against B. melitensis than pCIOmp31 plus pcDNABLS (1.09log) and similar protection than Rev.1 (2.30 log). Mice given pCIOmp31 exhibited a significant degree of protection(1.44 log) against B. melitensis as was against B. melitensis (1.44 log), while pcDNABLS induced 1.22 log protection. Together these results show that the chimera significantly increases protection elicited against B. ovis with respect to either pcDNABLS, pCIOmp31 or Rev.1 and induces a similar degree of protection against B. melitensis infection than Rev.1 vaccination.