The investigators propose to develop a system in which OspA, an antigen known to induce protective immune responses against Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme Disease, is cloned and exported to the outer membrane of Neisseria gonorrhea, a bacterium that naturally turns over its outer membrane into easily isolated immunogenic blebs. The antigen will be expressed in blebs either as a complete protein or by fusion to another gonococcal cell surface antigen. Localization of the antigen in blebs will be characterized and the blebs used in animal studies to determine the immunogenicity of the construct as well as its potential ability to elicit protective immune responses.
