Genome sequence of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis biovar equi strain 258 and prediction of antigenic targets to improve biotechnological vaccine production

Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis is the causative agent of several veterinary diseases in a broad range of economically important hosts, which can vary from caseous lymphadenitis in sheep and goats (biovar ovis) to ulcerative lymphangitis in cattle and horses (biovar equi). Existing vaccines against C. pseudotuberculosis are mainly intended for small ruminants and, even in these hosts, they still present remarkable limitations. In this study, we present the complete genome sequence of C. pseudotuberculosis biovar equi strain 258, isolated from a horse with ulcerative lymphangitis. The genome has a total size of 2,314,404 bp and contains 2088 predicted protein-coding regions. Using in silico analysis, eleven pathogenicity islands were detected in the genome sequence of C. pseudotuberculosis 258. The application of a reverse vaccinology strategy identified 49 putative antigenic proteins, which can be used as candidate vaccine targets in future works.

► Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis strains 258 and CIP 52.97, biovar equi, present 11 pathogenicity islands.
► Three pathogenicity islands of biovar equi strains present large deletions compared with biovar ovis strains.
► 49 proteins were predicted as antigenic in C. pseudotuberculosis strains 1002, CIP52.97 and 258.
► Putative antigenic proteins are involved in genome rearrangement and survival under stress conditions.