Identi fi cation and Validation of Antigenic Proteins from Pajaroellobacter abortibovis Using De Novo Genome Sequence Assembly and Reverse Vaccinology

Epizootic bovine abortion (“foothill abortion”), a regional disease concentrated in the foothills of California, can cause naïve pregnant cows to abort calves if they are bitten between 2 to 5 months of gestation by a tick carrying the Pajaroellobacter abortibovis deltaproteobacteria. Here we describe de novo assembly of the genome of this pathogenic deltaproteobacteria and the use of reverse vaccinology to identify antigenic proteins. Western blots run on the top nine antigenic proteins displayed antibody binding in seven candidates. Our study provides promising targets for the development of a recombinant DNA vaccine for this orphan livestock disease.