DEMONSTRATION OF SHARED CARBOHYDRATE EPITOPES IN INTESTINAL PROTEINS OF SOME BOVINE GASTROINTESTINAL NEMATODES

The presence of shared carbohydrate intestinal epitopes in bovine gast rointestinal nematodes was demonstrated. Proteins were extracted from the intestinal tissue of a laboratory strain of adult Haemonchus place i and used to produce monoclonal antibodies (mAb). Analysis of this de tergent extract by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electroph oresis revealed 7-9 bands ranging from approximately 39 to 298 kDa. Th e mAbs reacted with periodate-sensitive epitopes and, in western blots , recognized high molecular weight protein bands (approximately 111-29 8 kDa). Immunohistochemical studies with the mAbs verified the intesti nal location of the epitope(s) in the laboratory strain as well as in a recent field isolate of H. placei. Epitope(s) were conserved among s pecies examined within the Trichostrongyloidea (Ostertagia ostertagi, Cooperia punctata, Haemonchus placei, and Haemonchus contortus), semic onserved among species within the Strongyloidea (present in Oesophagos tomum radiatum, absent in Oesophagostomum venulosum), and absent in th e only species examined in the Ancylostomatoidea (Bunostomum phlebotom um).