Antibody-based distinguishing between Francisella tularensis subspecies

Francisella tularensis is a highly infectious Gram-negative bacterium, living mostly on the Northern hemisphere, and considered as a biothreat agent. People can be infected from its reservoirs in rodents and lagomorphs not only by direct contact with them, their excrements, or urine, but also through soil, water, and air, or even by arthropod bites. The resulting illness, tularemia, can develop in various forms, depending both on the route of entrance (ulceroglandular, oculoglandular, oropharyngeal, respiratory or enteral tularemia), and on the subspecies of the bacterium. Francisella tularensis tularensis (type A), typical for North America, is extremely virulent (the infective dose in human is 25 bacteria taken by aerosol or 10 bacteria taken subcutaneously) and can cause rhabdomyolysis and septic shock. After the advent of effective antibiotics, the mortality declines from 5-10% to 1-2%. Francisella tularensis holarctica (type B) is spread more widely over the Northern hemisphere, but it is less virulent and virtually nonlethal even without antibiotic treatment, although high fever and other symptoms occur even in this case.
 
We have added to our portfolio three rabbit polyclonal antibodies that can be used to distinguish between F. tularensis tularensis and F. tularensis holarctica subspecies by Western blotting and ELISA:

PAb (180): Anti-PilT (F. tularensis ssp. tularensis) Purified                          11-180-C100

PAb (181): Anti-FTT0571 (F. tularensis ssp. tularensis) Purified                  11-181-C100

PAb (196): Anti-FTL0187 (F. tularensis ssp. holarctica) Purified                  11-196-C100

 
 

 
Fig. 1: Western blotting analysis of polyclonal anti-Francisella tularensis subsp. tularensis antigen FTT0088 (11-180-C100).
FSC200-CL: 10 μg of F. tularensis ssp. holarctica FSC200 cell lysate
SCHUS4-CL: 10 μg of F. tularensis ssp. tularensis SCHU S4 cell lysate
FSC200-MF: 10 μg of F. tularensis ssp. holarctica FSC200 membrane fraction
SCHUS4-CL: 10 μg of F. tularensis ssp. tularensis SCHU S4 membrane fraction
K1: 50 ng of FTT0088 recombinant protein
K2: 125 ng of FTT0088 recombinant protein
 


Fig. 2: Western blotting analysis of polyclonal anti-Francisella tularensis subsp. holarctica antigen FTL0187 (11-196-C100).
FSC200-CL: 10 μg of F. tularensis ssp. holarctica FSC200 cell lysate
SCHUS4-CL: 10 μg of F. tularensis ssp. tularensis SCHU S4 cell lysate
FSC200-MF: 10 μg of F. tularensis ssp. holarctica FSC200 membrane fraction
SCHUS4-CL: 10 μg of F. tularensis ssp. tularensis SCHU S4 membrane fraction
K1: 50 ng of FTL0187 recombinant protein
K2: 125 ng of FTL0187 recombinant protein
 
Further reading:
 
Tärnvik A, Berglund L: Tularemia. Eur Respir J. 2003;21:361-373.
 
Telford SR, Goethert HK: Ecology of Francisella tularensis. Annu Rev Entomol. 2020;65:351-372.
 
Carruthers J, Lythe G, López-García M, Gillard J, Laws TR, Lukaszewski R, Molina-París C: Stochastic dynamics of Francisella tularensis infection and replication. PLoS Comput Biol. 2020;16(6):e1007752.
  

 
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