FIG. 2.

Alignment of T-cell epitopes of the 30-kDa (A), 32-kDa (B), and 16-kDa (C) proteins mapped in guinea pigs and in humans. T-cell epitopes that were recognized by at least 25% of the immunized guinea pigs or healthy PPD-positive or BCG-vaccinated individuals are indicated by underlining. Common epitopes of guinea pigs and humans are highlighted with shaded boxes. Epitopes of the 30-, 32-, and 16-kDa protein sequences of M. tuberculosis predicted by the EpiMer computer-based program that are at least five amino acids long are underlined. Epitope mapping in guinea pigs was performed with overlapping peptides derived from the sequence of the 30-, 32-, and 16-kDa proteins of M. tuberculosis shown in the figure. Synthetic peptides used to map the T-cell epitopes of the 30-kDa protein in humans were based on the sequence from M. bovis BCG Tokyo (17, 18). An asterisk indicates a difference in amino acid residue between the 30-kDa protein sequence from M. tuberculosis and that from M. bovis BCG Tokyo (i.e., F₁₀₀, N₂₄₅, A₂₄₆ and L₁₀₀, K₂₄₅, P₂₄₆ for M. tuberculosis and M. bovis BCG Tokyo, respectively). Synthetic peptides used to map the T-cell epitopes of the 32-kDa protein in humans were based on the sequence from M. tuberculosis (9).