| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Entomopathogenic fungi such as <it>Beauveria bassiana </it>are considered promising biological control agents for a variety of arthropod pests. <it>Beauveria </it>species, however, have the potential to elicit allergenic reactions in humans, although no specific allergens have been characterized to date.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Four putative allergens were identified within <it>B. bassiana </it>expressed sequence tag (EST) datasets. IgE-reactivity studies were performed using sera from patients displaying mold allergies against recombinant <it>B. bassiana </it>proteins expressed in <it>E. coli</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Full length cDNA and genomic nucleotide sequences of four potential <it>B. bassiana </it>allergens were isolated. BLASTX search results led to their putative designation as follows; Bb-Eno1, with similarity to fungal enolases; Bb-f2, similar to the <it>Aspergillus fumigatus </it>major allergen, Asp f2 and to a fibrinogen binding mannoprotein; Bb-Ald, similar to aldehyde dehydrogenases; and Bb-Hex, similar to N-acetyl-hexosaminadases. All four genes were cloned into <it>E. coli </it>expression systems and recombinant proteins were produced. Immunoblots of <it>E. coli </it>extracts probed with pooled as well as individual human sera from patients displaying mould allergies demonstrated IgE reactivity versus recombinant Bb-Eno1 and Bb-Ald.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Four putative <it>Beauveria bassiana </it>allergens were identified. Recombinant proteins corresponding to two of the four, Bb-Eno1 and Bb-Ald were bound by sera IgEs derived from patients with fungal allergies. These data confirm the potential allergenicity of <it>B. bassiana </it>by identification of specific human IgE reactive epitopes.</p>
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