We have started the construction of a two-dimensional database of the prote
ome of Francisella tularensis, a bacterium that is responsible for the high
ly pathogenic disease tularemia. The genome of this intracellular pathogen
is not completely sequenced yet and, currently, information about only 66 p
roteins is available from NCBI database. We have analyzed the F: tularensis
live vaccine strain by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis with immobilize
d pH 3-10 gradient in the first dimension and 9-16% gradient or tricine SDS
-PAGE in the second dimension. In both cases about 2000 spots were detected
. Furthermore, we compared the protein pattern of the nonvirulent F: tulare
nsis live vaccine strain with protein profiles of two wild type clinical is
olates and more than 50 differentially expressed proteins were counted. The
separated proteins are going to be identified by peptide mass fingerprinti
ng. However, due to the lack of complete genome sequence data only eight pr
oteins were unambiguously identified. Among them, acid phosphatase and the
most basic isoform of a hypothetical 23 kDa protein are characteristic only
for virulent strains.