In addition, the MAbs were shown to be bound more strongly to conformational rather than sequential (linear) epitopes highlighting the #AZD8931 manufacturer randurls[1|1|,|CHEM1|]# specificity of the MAbs to their epitopes as appeared in Table 3[41]. Conclusions

To our knowledge, this is the first study that describes the production of monoclonal antibodies against whole cells of C. muytjensii with concomitant identification of the recognized proteins by MALDI-TOF spectrometry. All MAbs produced in this study were reactive against the whole cell antigen and Cronobacter OMPs. MAbs reacted with OMPs of molecular weight ranging between 36 and 49 kDa. However, none of the MAbs showed any reaction with LPS extracted from Cronobacter. All MAbs recognized conformational epitopes rather than sequential as it is evident from the decrease in their binding affinity to fully denatured OMP antigens. Moreover, all MAbs exhibited

a high cross-reactivity against the whole cell antigen and OMPs from non-Cronobacter. As apparent from the MALDI-TOF protein identification, the overall results indicated that, the major OMPs found in learn more the Enterobacteriaceae are sufficiently conserved thereby, promoting antigenic cross-reactivity between genera. Furthermore, the single-banding pattern and the high titers obtained in immunoblotting and ELISA for the Cronobacter strains indicated that the OMPs of closely related strains are more conserved compared with other genera evaluated. The results from this study can be of great

PLEKHB2 help for possible vaccine production against this pathogen in infants and young children. Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge the Deanship of Research at Jordan University of Science and Technology for funding this research project (project number 85/2008). In addition, the authors extend their deep gratitude for Professor Greg Blank, from the University of Manitoba, for his critical review of the manuscript and Hyochin Kim from Purdue University for assistance with MALDI-TOF analysis of proteins, and Muneer Khdor, from Yarmouk University, for his assistance with Electron microscopy. References 1. Gallagher PG: Enterobacter bacteremia in pediatric patients. Rev Infect Dis 1990, 12:808–812.PubMedCrossRef 2. Nazarowec-White M, Farber JM: Phenotypic and genotypic typing of food and clinical isolates of Enterobacter sakazakii . J Med Microbiol 1999, 48:559–567.PubMedCrossRef 3. Farmer JJ, Asbury MA, Hickman FW, Brenner DJ: The Enterobacteriaceae Study Group; Enterobacter sakazakii , new species of Enterobacteriaceae isolated from clinical specimens. Int J Sys Bacteriol 1980, 30:569–584.CrossRef 4. Iversen C, Waddington M, Farmer JJ, Forsythe SJ: The biochemical differentiation of Enterobacter sakazakii genotypes. BMC Microbiol 2006, 6:94.PubMedCrossRef 5.