Hi. Does anyone have a cDNA library from Cryptosporidium that I can use?
I am hoping to express Cryptosporidium parvum antigens in the cellular slime
mould Dictyostelium discoideum. We have an established expression system based
on the homologous D. discoideum plasmid Ddp2 and I am presently concentrating on
developing a high transformation frequency suitable for expressing libraries. The
idea is to ligate cDNA into our vectors behind a D. discoideum promoter and
screen for antigen positive cells on a fluorescent activated cell sorter.
D. discoideum is a protozoa and has A+T rich DNA so it may be ideal for
expressing authentic parasite antigens. We can secrete 10-20mg recombinant
protein per litre and it is also easy to grow large quantities of D. discoideum
cells (Dettrich et al, 1994 Bio/technology 12, 614-618). So this expression
system could have lots of applications in parasitology if we can demonstrate the
production and expression of large cDNA libraries.
Martin Slade,
School of Biological Sciences,
Macquarie University,
NSW 2109,
Australia
FAX (61 2) 850 8174
Phone(61 2) 850 8210
