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Analysis of institutional authors

De Miguel MjAuthorMuñoz PmAuthorBlasco JmAuthor

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February 5, 2019
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GFP tagging of Brucella melitensis Rev1 allows the identification of vaccinated sheep.

Publicated to:Transboundary And Emerging Diseases. 66 (1): 505-516 - 2019-01-01 66(1), DOI: 10.1111/tbed.13053

Authors: Zabalza-Barangua, Ana; San-Roman, Beatriz; Chacon-Diaz, Carlos; de Miguel, Maria-Jesus; Munoz, Pilar-Maria; Iriarte, Maite; Blasco, Jose-Maria; Grillo, Maria-Jesus

Affiliations

Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica. - Author
Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentaria (CITA), Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón (IA2), Gobierno de Aragón, Zaragoza, Spain. - Author
CSIC Gobierno Navarra, IdAB, Inst Agrobiotecnol, Navarra, Spain - Author
Inst Agroalimentario Aragon IA2, CITA, Zaragoza, Spain - Author
Instituto de Agrobiotecnología (IdAB, CSIC-Gobierno de Navarra), Mutilva, Navarra, Spain. - Author
Instituto de Salud Tropical - Dpto. de Microbiología y Parasitología, Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain. - Author
Univ Costa Rica, Fac Microbiol, Ctr Invest Enfermedades Trop, San Jose, Costa Rica - Author
Univ Navarra, Dept Microbiol & Parasitol, Inst Salud Trop, Pamplona, Spain - Author
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Abstract

Brucellosis is a worldwide zoonosis causing important economic loss and a public health problem. Small ruminants are the preferred hosts of Brucella melitensis and thus the main source of human infections. Effective control of sheep and goat brucellosis has been achieved in several countries through vaccination with the live-attenuated B. melitensis Rev1 vaccine. However, Rev1 induces a long-lasting serological response that hinders the differentiation between infected and vaccinated animals. A Rev1::gfp strain expressing constitutively the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) was built by stable insertion of a mini-Tn7-gfp in the glmS-recG non-codifying chromosomal region. An associated indirect ELISA-GFP was developed to identify anti-GFP antibodies in vaccinated animals. The resulting Rev1::gfp kept the biological properties of the Rev1 reference strain, including residual virulence and efficacy in mice, and was readily distinguished from Rev1 and other Brucella field strains by direct visualization under ultraviolet illumination, fluorescence microscopy and a multiplex PCR-GFP. The Rev1::gfp strain did not elicit anti-GFP antibodies itself in lambs but when applied in combination with recombinant GFP induced an intense and long-lasting (>9 months) anti-GFP serological response readily detectable by the ELISA-GFP. Overall, our results confirm that Rev1 GFP-tagging can be a suitable alternative for identifying vaccinated sheep in infected contexts.© 2018 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Keywords

brucella melitensisAnimalsBrucella melitensisBrucella vaccineBrucellosisElisa-gfpEnzyme-linked immunosorbent assayFemaleGreen fluorescent proteinsImmunoglobulin gLuminescent agentsMaleMiceMice, inbred balb cMicroscopy, fluorescenceMini-tn7-gfpSheepSheep diseasesVaccinationVaccinesVaccines, attenuated

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Transboundary And Emerging Diseases due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2019, it was in position 4/141, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Veterinary Sciences. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from the Field Citation Ratio (FCR) of the Dimensions source, it yields a value of: 1.96, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-07, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 6
  • Scopus: 6
  • Europe PMC: 7

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-07:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 36.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 51 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 0.75.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 2 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: http://hdl.handle.net/10532/6066

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Costa Rica.