Cloning and sequencing of a unique antigen MPT70 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and expression in BCG using E. coli-mycobacteria shuttle vector.

MPB70 is known to be an immunogenic mycobacterial protein secreted in large amounts from Mycobacterium bovis BCG (BCG) Tokyo. The analogous gene for MPT70 was cloned from Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv which produces this protein in only a small amount. The gene encoding 193 amino acid residues including 30 amino acids for the signal peptide, the promoter-like sequence, and the ribosome-binding site, was completely identical to that of BCG Tokyo. Computer analysis revealed that the carboxy-terminal half of MPT70 was homologous to amino acid sequences of fasciclin I, osteoblast-specific factor 2 (OSF-2), and human transforming growth factor-beta induced gene product (beta IG-H3). Escherichia coli (E. coli) -mycobacteria shuttle vectors containing mpt70 or mpb70 genes 0.7kbp upstream of the 5' end of them were able to be expressed in BCG Pasteur which is a MPB70 low-producer, but the extent of the expression was not that of a high-producer.