Pertactin (PRN) is an outer membrane protein expressed by Bordetella
pertussis, Bordetella parapertussis, and Bordetella bronchiseptica, which
induces protective immunity to Bordetella infections. The immunodominant
and immunoprotective epitopes of pertactin include two repeated regions,
I and II. Comparison of these two repeated regions showed the pertactin
of B. parapertussis is invariant, whereas the pertactin of B. pertussis
varies mostly in region I and B. bronchiseptica varies in both the
repeated regions I and II. Compositions containing pertactins and
pertactin fragments containing variant sequences in these regions are
useful as immunogenic compositions.