Cloning and sequence analysis of Tp14 gene from Cysticercus pisiformis.

To identify an effective antigen for diagnosis or immunization of Cysticercus pisiformis,a pair of primers were designed based on the conserved region of other Taeniidae 14 ku gene.A 261 bp gene fragment coding for a protein(Tp14) of 87 amino acid residues was successfully amplified from C.pisiformis total RNA by RT-PCR.Nucleotide sequence analysis showed that Tp14 gene shared more than 85% sequence similarity and lied in the same evolutionary clade with that of Taenia hydatigena,Echinococcus granulosus and Taenia solium published in GeneBank.These results indicated that the Tp14 protein could be a genus-specific antigen.Secondary structure analysis,hydrophobicity and antigenicity analysis by bioinformatics tools suggested that the Tp14 protein could be a potential protein for diagnosis or immunization of C.pisiformis.