A Novel Protective Vaccine Antigen from the Core Escherichia coli Genome

Abstract

E. coli is a multifaceted pathogen of major significance to global human health and an important contributor to increasing antibiotic resistance. Given the paucity of therapies still effective against multidrug-resistant pathogenic E. coli strains, novel treatment and prevention strategies are urgently required. In this study, we defined the core and accessory components of the E. coli genome by examining a large collection of draft and completely sequenced strains available from public databases. This data set was mined by employing a reverse-vaccinology approach in combination with proteomics to identify putative broadly protective vaccine antigens. One such antigen was identified that was highly immunogenic and induced protection in a mouse model of bacteremia. Overall, our study provides a genomic and proteomic framework for the selection of novel vaccine antigens that could mediate broad protection against pathogenic E. coli .