Nucleic acids fragments and polypeptide fragments derived from M. tuberculosis

A substantially pure or isolated polypeptide which consists of the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO:

• 16.

A substantially pure or isolated polypeptide which consists essentially of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:

• 16.

A substantially or isolated polypeptide which consists essentially of an amino acid sequence with a sequence identity of at least 80% with SEQ ID NO:

• 16, and which is at least 6 contiguous amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:
• 16 wherein the polypeptide is immunologically equivalent to the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:
• 16 with respect to the ability of evoking a protective immune response in mice against infections with mycobacteria belonging to the tuberculosis complex or with respect to the ability of eliciting a diagnostically significant immune response indicating previous or ongoing sensitization with antigens derived from mycobacteria belonging to the tuberculosis complex, and “sequence identity” is a measure of the degree of similarity between two amino acid sequences of equal length, calculated as (Nref−Ndij)*100/Nref, wherein Ndif is the total number of non-identical residues in the two sequences when aligned and wherein Nref is the number of residues in one of the sequences.

A substantially pure or isolated polypeptide which consists essentially of at least 6 contiguous amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:

• 16, wherein the polypeptide is immunologically equivalent to the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:
• 16 with respect to the ability of evoking a protective immune response in mice against infections with mycobacteria belonging to the tuberculosis complex or with respect to the ability of eliciting a diagnostically significant immune response indicating previous or ongoing sensitization with antigens derived from mycobacteria belonging to the tuberculosis complex.

A substantially pure or isolated polypeptide which consists essentially of an amino acid sequence with a sequence identity of at least 80% with SEQ ID NO:

• 16, or wherein the polypeptide is immunologically equivalent to the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:
• 16 with respect to the ability of evoking a protective immune in mice response against infections with mycobacteria belonging to the tuberculosis complex or with respect to the ability of eliciting a diagnostically significant immune response indicating previous or ongoing sensitization with antigens derived from mycobacteria belonging to the tuberculosis complex, and “sequence identity” is a measure of the degree of similarity between two amino acid sequences of equal length, calculated as (Nref−Ndif)*100/Nref, wherein Ndif is the total number of non-identical residues in the two sequences when aligned and wherein Nref is the number of residues in one of the sequences.

A substantially pure or isolated polypeptide which consists essentially of a first amino acid sequence with a sequence identity of at least 80% with a second amino acid sequence that consists essentially of at least 6 contiguous amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:

• 16, wherein the polypeptide is immunologically equivalent to the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:
• 16 with respect to the ability of evoking a protective immune response in mice against infections with mycobacteria belonging to the tuberculosis complex or with respect to the ability of eliciting a diagnostically significant immune response indicating previous or ongoing sensitization with antigens derived from mycobacteria belonging to the tuberculosis complex, and “sequence identity” is a measure of the degree of similarity between two amino acid sequences of equal length, calculated as (Nref−Ndij)*100/Nref, wherein Ndif is the total number of non-identical residues in the two sequences when aligned and wherein Nref is the number of residues in one of the sequences.

A substantially pure or isolated polypeptide which consists essentially of at least 7 contiguous amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:

• 16 and is immunologically equivalent to the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:
• 16 with respect to the ability of evoking a protective immune response in mice against infections with mycobacteria belonging to the tuberculosis complex or with respect to the ability of eliciting a diagnostically significant immune response indicating previous or ongoing sensitization with antigens derived from mycobacteria belonging to the tuberculosis complex.

A substantially pure or isolated polypeptide which consists essentially of at least 12 contiguous amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:

• 16 and is immunologically equivalent to the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:
• 16 with respect to the ability of evoking a protective immune response in mice against infections with mycobacteria belonging to the tuberculosis complex or with respect to the ability of eliciting a diagnostically significant immune response indicating previous or ongoing sensitization with antigens derived from mycobacteria belonging to the tuberculosis complex.

A substantially pure or isolated polypeptide which consists essentially of at least 20 contiguous amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:

• 16 and is immunologically equivalent to the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:
• 16 with respect to the ability of evoking a protective immune response in mice against infections with mycobacteria belonging to the tuberculosis complex or with respect to the ability of eliciting a diagnostically significant immune response indicating previous or ongoing sensitization with antigens derived from mycobacteria belonging to the tuberculosis complex.

A substantially pure or isolated polypeptide which consists essentially of at least 30 residues of SEQ ID NO:

• 16 and is immunologically equivalent to the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:
• 16 with respect to the ability of evoking a protective immune response in mice against infections with mycobacteria belonging to the tuberculosis complex or with respect to the ability of eliciting a diagnostically significant immune response indicating previous or ongoing sensitization with antigens derived from mycobacteria belonging to the tuberculosis complex.