Immunoprecipitation of Cell Surface Proteins from Gram-negative Bacteria

Abstract

The meningococcus (Neisseria meningitidis) remains an important threat to human health worldwide. This Gram-negative bacterium causes elevated disabilities and mortality in infected individuals. Despite several available vaccines, currently there is no universal vaccine against all circulating meningococcal strains (Vogel et al., 2013). Herein, we describe a new protocol that is capable of identifying only cell surface exposed proteins that play a role in immunity, providing this research field with a more straightforward approach to identify novel vaccine targets. Even though N. meningitidis is used as a model in the protocol herein described, this protocol can be used for any Gram-negative bacteria provided modifications and optimizations are carried out to adapt it to different bacterial and disease characteristics (e.g., membrane fragility, growth methods, serum antibody levels, etc.).