The C-terminal domain of Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium OmpA is an immunodominant antigen in mice but appears to be only partially exposed on the bacterial cell surface.

We examined the way the major outer membrane protein OmpA of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is recognized by the mouse immune system, by raising a panel of 12 monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against this protein. Interaction between OmpA and these MAbs is competitively inhibited with several-hundredfold dilutions of mouse polyclonal sera obtained by immunization with live or heat-killed whole cells, suggesting that OmpA is one of the immunodominant antigens of serovar Typhimurium. All of the MAbs were specific for an identical epitope(s) located on the C-terminal domain of OmpA, as indicated by the use of OmpA fragments generated by protease or cyanogen bromide treatment and by competitive inhibition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. This epitope was highly conserved within (but not outside) the family Enterobacteriaceae: The strong immunogenicity of this epitope was surprising because the C-terminal domain of OmpA, usually thought to be located in the periplasm, is not expected to be exposed on the bacterial cell surface. A MAb, however, reacted in a cytofluorometry assay more strongly with outer-membrane-permeabilized cells than with untreated cells, a result supporting the predominantly periplasmic localization of the epitope. Significant, though low-level, reactivity of intact cells nevertheless suggests that in some cells the C-terminal domain of OmpA is exposed on the surface, a result consistent with the proposal that OmpA can fold into one of the two alternate conformations.