Heterologous expression and antigenicity of stamp antigenic membrane proteins from different 'Candidatus phytoplasma solani' genetic clusters
Résumé
Little is known about the mechanisms of insects - phytoplasma interactions which are driving the ecological diversification of phytoplasmas. Phytoplasma surface proteins play an important role in phytoplasma life cycle and polymorphism of this protein might determine the transmission ability of different insect species. Strains of Candidatus Phytoplasma solani' from several European countries, based on variable membrane protein gene (stamp), were classified into four distinct phylogenetic clusters which clusters are present in different geographical areas. This may reflect the distribution of the different known insect vectors and the adaptation of the various 'Ca. P. solani' strain to a specific vector. To detect STAMP protein, monoclonal antibody 2A10 is available. This antibody was produced against StolburC, which is a representative strain of stamp clusters I. In this work we performed heterologous expression antigenic membrane proteins STAMP from different 'Ca. P. solani' genetic clusters and tested their recognition by the 2A10 monoclonal antibody.