Klebsiella pneumoniae MrkD adhesin-mediated immunity to respiratory infection and mapping the antigenic epitope by phage display library

In this study, the K. pneumoniae MrkD adhesin was identified an immunodominant antigen which correlated with protection against infection by K. pneumoniae. The mouse monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against MrkD adhesin were produced by the hybridoma technique using recombinant MrkD-GST as the immunogen and were immunoscreened against phage-displayed random dodecapeptide library (Ph.D.-12). After three rounds of biopanning, 36 phage clones were randomly selected and their specificity to mAb was verified by sandwich and competitive inhibition ELISA. Sixteen phage clones were sequenced and their amino acids were deduced. One mimotope (QKTLAKSTYMSA) showed good match with MrkD adhesion at 148–159 aa and the serum of mice induced by the phage clone clearly recognized MrkD adhesion.