EPITOPE MAPPING OF THE STA58 MAJOR OUTER-MEMBRANE PROTEIN OF RICKETTSIA-TSUTSUGAMUSHI

Binding studies of 160 overlapping, synthetic octapeptides from the hy drophilic regions of the Sta58 major outer membrane protein of Rickett sia tsutsugamushi with sera from patients with scrub typhus revealed 1 5 immunodominant peptides which are recognized by all the sera tested. Further analysis of the specificity of peptide binding with five of t hese peptides indicated that the peptides showed significantly stronge r binding to scrub typhus patients' sera than they did to sera from pa tients with other febrile illnesses common in the region, i.e., malari a, dengue fever, typhoid fever, and leptospirosis. The main antibody c lass binding to these peptides appears to be immunoglobulin M, and the re appears to be little correlation between reactivity with peptides a nd antibody titers measured by the indirect immunoperoxidase test.