Table 4. Serological specificity of the major seroreactive surface-exposed proteins of R. heilongjiangensis analyzed by ELISA using serum samples from mice infected with different rickettsial agents.
| Average and standard deviation (SD) of the optical density of each protein from ELISAs using various sera (positive No./total No.) | ||||||||
| Proteins | R. hei | R. sib | R. ric | R. pro | R. typ | O. tsu | C. bur | Normal |
| GroEL | 1.31±0.37 (10/10) | 0.6±0.47 (10/10) | 0.75±0.43 (10/10) | 0.13±0.02 (1/10) | 0.14±0.02 (0/10) | 0.36±0.38 (5/10) | 0.14±0.02 (1/10) | 0.11±0.01 (0/10) |
| OmpA-2 | 1.83±0.23 (10/10) | 0.73±0.2 (10/10) | 0.44±0.29 (8/10) | 0.14±0.03 (0/10) | 0.15±0.02 (0/10) | 0.28±0.22 (4/10) | 0.15±0.02 (0/10) | 0.14±0.03 (0/10) |
| OmpB-3 | 1.01±0.59 (10/10) | 0.35±0.29 (8/10) | 0.31±0.11 (7/10) | 0.17±0.05 (1/10) | 0.23±0.04 (6/10) | 0.24±0.14 (5/10) | 0.18±0.04 (2/10) | 0.14±0.02 (0/10) |
| PrsA | 0.85±0.76 (8/10) | 0.28±0.08 (8/10) | 0.29±0.09 (8/10) | 0.16±0.06 (1/10) | 0.16±0.03 (0/10) | 0.32±0.31 (5/10) | 0.13±0.02 (0/10) | 0.13±0.02 (0/10) |
| RplA | 0.22±0.07 (5/10) | 0.29±0.1 (8/10) | 0.27±0.13 (6/10) | 0.17±0.06 (3/10) | 0.16±0.04 (1/10) | 0.19±0.08 (4/10) | 0.15±0.02 (0/10) | 0.13±0.02 (0/10) |
| RplY | 0.32±0.16 (7/10) | 0.54±0.15 (10/10) | 0.52±0.31 (7/10) | 0.19±0.05 (2/10) | 0.22±0.04 (4/10) | 0.38±0.26 (6/10) | 0.23±0.07 (4/10) | 0.14±0.02 (0/10) |
| RpsB | 0.3±0.07 (6/10) | 0.43±0.11 (9/10) | 0.37±0.18 (6/10) | 0.22±0.07 (2/10) | 0.21±0.04 (1/10) | 0.24±0.13 (4/10) | 0.17±0.02 (0/10) | 0.15±0.03 (0/10) |
| SdhB | 0.21±0.04 (3/10) | 0.38±0.1 (9/10) | 0.34±0.15 (6/10) | 0.17±0.05 (1/10) | 0.19±0.03 (1/10) | 0.27±0.17 (5/10) | 0.15±0.02 (0/10) | 0.14±0.02 (0/10) |
| SurA | 0.27±0.05 (6/10) | 0.4±0.1 (10/10) | 0.36±0.2 (6/10) | 0.25±0.19 (3/10) | 0.17±0.04 (0/10) | 0.28±0.16 (6/10) | 0.17±0.04 (0/10) | 0.16±0.03 (0/10) |
| YbgF | 0.25±0.05 (8/10) | 0.29±0.07 (9/10) | 0.44±0.41 (7/10) | 0.25±0.14 (3/10) | 0.18±0.04 (1/10) | 0.4±0.47 (5/10) | 0.15±0.03 (0/10) | 0.14±0.02 (0/10) |
| Rh054_02285 | 0.22±0.04 (2/10) | 0.4±0.11 (10/10) | 0.31±0.14 (6/10) | 0.23±0.1 (3/10) | 0.19±0.04 (1/10) | 0.31±0.21 (5/10) | 0.15±0.02 (0/10) | 0.15±0.02 (0/10) |
The sera from mice infected with R. heilongjiangensis (R. hei), R. sibirica (R. sib), R. rickettsii (R. ric), R. prowazekii (R. pro), R. typhi (R. typ), O. tsutsugamushi (O. tsu) or C. burnetii (C. bur), or normal mouse sera (Normal) were used to test the specificity of the major seroreactive surface-exposed proteins of R. heilongjiangensis.