Identification of tropomyosin as the major shrimp allergen and characterization of its IgE-binding epitopes

Shanti, KN and Martin, Brian M and Nagpal, Sunil and Metcalfe, Dean D and Rao, Subba PV (1993) Identification of tropomyosin as the major shrimp allergen and characterization of its IgE-binding epitopes. In: The Journal of Immunology, 151 (10). pp. 5354-5363.

PDF Major.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Registered users only Download (5MB) | Request a copy

Abstract

The major heat-stable shrimp allergen (designated as Sa-II), capable of provoking IgE-mediated immediate type hypersensitivity reactions after the ingestion of cooked shrimp, has been shown to be a 34-kDa heat- stable protein containing 300 amino acid residues. Here, we report that a comparison of amino acid sequences of different peptides generated by proteolysis of Sa-II revealed an 86% homology with tropomyosin from Drosophila melanogaster, suggesting that Sa-II could be the shrimp muscle protein tropomyosin. To establish that Sa-II is indeed tropomyosin, the latter was isolated from uncooked shrimp (Penaeus indicus) and its physicochemical and immunochemical properties were compared with those of Sa-II. Both tropomyosin and Sa-II had the same molecular mass and focused in the isoelectric pH range of 4.8 to 5.4. In the presence of 6 M urea, the mobility of both Sa-II and shrimp tropomyosin shifted to give an apparent molecular mass of 50 kDa, which is a characteristic property of tropomyosins. Shrimp tropomyosin bound to specific IgE antibodies in the sera of shrimp-sensitive patients as assessed by competitive ELISA inhibition and Western blot analysis. Tryptic maps of both Sa-II and tropomyosin as obtained by reverse phase HPLC were superimposable. Dot-blot and competitive ELISA inhibition using sera of shrimp-sensitive patients revealed that antigenic as well as allergenic activities were associated with two peptide fractions. These IgE-binding tryptic peptides were purified and sequenced. Mouse anti-anti-idiotypic antibodies raised against Sa-II specific human idiotypic antibodies recognized not only tropomyosin but also the two allergenic peptides, thus suggesting that these peptides represent the major IgE binding epitopes of tropomyosin. A comparison of the amino acid sequence of shrimp tropomyosin in the region of IgE binding epitopes (residues 50-66 and 153-161) with the corresponding regions of tropomyosins from different vertebrates confirmed lack of allergenic cross-reactivity between tropomyosins from phylogenetically distinct species.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	The Journal of Immunology
Publisher:	American Association of Immunologists
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to American Association of Immunologists.
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Biochemistry
Date Deposited:	10 Feb 2011 06:48
Last Modified:	17 Oct 2018 10:21
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/35492

Actions (login required)

View Item