Histomonas meleagridis is a protozoan parasite that causes histomonosis in gallinaceous birds such as turkeys and chickens. Since the banning and restricted usage of effective drugs such as
nitarsone, 80-100% morbidity and mortality occur in turkeys and 20-30% mortality in chickens. New ideas are needed to resolve the re-emergence of histomonosis in poultry. In this study, the α-
actinin encoding gene from H. meleagridis was cloned. The 1839-bp gene encoding 612 amnio
acids showed close phylogenetic relationships with Trichomonas vaginalis and Tritrichomonas foetus. It was then inserted into the prokaryotic expression vector pET28a(+) and induced with isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside. A 73 kDa
recombinant protein rHmα-
actinin 1 was obtained and purified with a Ni-NTA chromatography column. rHmα-
actinin 1 was recognized by mouse anti-rHmα-
actinin 1 polyclonal antibody, mouse anti-rHmα-
actinin 1
monoclonal antibody, and rehabilitation sera from H. meleagridis infected chickens. Native α-
actinin 1 in the total
proteins of H. meleagridis can also be detected with mouse anti-rHmα-
actinin monoclonal antibody. Immunolocalization assays showed that Hmα-
actinin 1 was mainly distributed in the cytoplasm of virulent histomonads JSYZ-D9 and in the peripheral regions (near the plasma membrane) of attenuated histomonads JSYZ-D195. Based on in vivo experiment, when chickens were subcutaneously immunized with rHmα-
actinin 1 at 5 and 12 days old and then challenged with H. meleagridis at 19 days old, rHmα-
actinin 1 reduced the lesion scores 12 days after
infection (31 days old) and increased the
body weight gain during the challenged period (19-31 days old). Furthermore, it also strengthened the cellular and humoral immune responses 7 days after the second immunization (19 days old). In conclusion, Hmα-
actinin 1 could be used as a candidate
antigen to develop
vaccines against chicken histomonosis.