Background: The development of new management modalities is imperative for reducing the global burden of infectious diseases.
Objective: To develop a platform technology for rapid definition of comprehensive pathogen immunoproteomes (the repertoire of microbial proteins that elicit and interact with host immune responses).
Methods: Standard molecular biology techniques were coupled with cutting-edge proteomics to develop proteomics-based expression library screening (PELS).
Results: Proof of principle of PELS was demonstrated by defining a comprehensive immunoproteome of the human gastrointestinal pathogen, Escherichia coli O157:H7, in bovine reservoirs in just 3 weeks.
Conclusions: PELS, an immunoproteomics-based platform technology, is a rapid and inexpensive alternative to protein/antigen arrays/chips. It is applicable to any parasitic, fungal, viral or bacterial pathogen (or commensal) that: has a sequenced genome; can be cultured in the laboratory; and elicits host humoral immune responses during the process of infection/disease.