Porcine brucellosis is one of the most important zoonoses in this country. Currently, there is no control program for porcine brucellosis in Argentina and the epidemiological situation is still unknown. The purpose of our study was to detect anti-Brucella spp. antibodies in swine in the southwest of the Buenos Aires province and the east of the La Pampa province. Blood samples were obtained when animals were slaughtered. The presence of anti-brucella antibodies was studied by the buffered plate agglutination test (BPA), the tube agglutination test (SAT), the 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME) agglutination test and indirect ELISA tests, using the cytosolic fraction from Brucella abortus S19 (CYT), and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-free cytosolic proteins (CP). Out of a total of 325 samples analyzed, 17.8% reacted positively to BPA, 13.8% to SAT, 8.0% to 2-ME, 21.0% to ELISA-CYT and 10.0% to ELISA-CP. These results agree with the few data available in our country and suggest that brucellosis screening should be extended to other regions.

En nuestro país no existe un programa de control sobre brucelosis porcina y su verdadera situación epidemiológica es desconocida. El objetivo de nuestro trabajo fue detectar la presencia de anticuerpos anti-Brucella spp. en porcinos provenientes de criaderos del sudoeste de la provincia de Buenos Aires y del este de la provincia de La Pampa. La toma de muestras de sangre se realizó en el momento del faenado de los animales. La detección de anticuerpos se efectuó mediante las técnicas de aglutinación con antígeno tamponado en placa (BPA), seroaglutinación en tubo (SAT), aglutinación con 2-ME (2-ME) y ELISA indirecto, con dos antígenos diferentes: el antígeno CYT (fracción citoplasmática de B. abortus S19) y el antígeno CP (extracto citoplasmático libre de lipopolisacárido). Del total de las muestras analizadas (n=325), el 17,8% fue positivo para BPA, el 13,8% fue positivo para SAT y sólo el 8,0% fue positivo para 2-ME. Mediante ELISA-CYT, este porcentaje se elevó a 21,0%, mientras que a través del ELISA-CP sólo se halló un 10,0% de muestras reactivas. Estos resultados son compatibles con los informados en los escasos reportes previos para todo el país y sugieren la necesidad de extender los estudios a otras zonas, donde sea habitual la cría de cerdos.

The characterization of proteins from Brucella spp, the causative agent of brucellosis, has been the subject of intensive research. We have described an 18-kDa cytoplasmic protein of Brucella abortus and shown the potential usefulness of this protein as an antigen for the serologic diagnosis of brucellosis. The amino acid sequence of the protein showed a low but significant homology with that of lumazine synthases. Lumazine is an intermediate product in bacterial riboflavin biosynthesis. The recombinant form of the 18-kDa protein (expressed in E. coli) folds like the native Brucella protein and has lumazine-synthase enzymatic activity. Three-dimensional analysis by X-ray crystallography of the homolog Bacillus subtilis lumazine synthase has revealed that the enzyme forms an icosahedral capsid. Recombinant lumazine synthase from B. abortus was crystallized, diffracted X rays to 2.7-Å resolution at room temperature, and the structure successfully solved by molecular replacement procedures. The macromolecular assembly of the enzyme differs from that of the enzyme from B. subtilis. The Brucella enzyme remains pentameric (90 kDa) in its crystallographic form. Nonetheless, the active sites of the two enzymes are virtually identical at the structural level, indicating that inhibitors of these enzymes could be viable pharmaceuticals across a broad species range. We describe the structural reasons for the differences in their quaternary arrangement and also discuss the potential use of this protein as a target for the development of acellular vaccines.