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Infect Immun, March 1998, p. 1200-1207, Vol. 66, No. 3
Department of Veterinary Microbiology and
Pathology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164
Received 3 September 1997/Returned for modification 20 October
1997/Accepted 10 December 1997
Anaplasma marginale is an intraerythrocytic rickettsial
pathogen of cattle in which infection persists for the life of the animal. Persistent A. marginale infection is characterized
by repetitive rickettsemic cycles which we hypothesize reflect
emergence of A. marginale antigenic variants. In this
study, we determined whether variants of major surface protein 2 (MSP-2), a target of protective immunity encoded by a polymorphic
multigene family, arise during persistent rickettsemia. By using a
quantitative competitive PCR to identify rickettsemic cycles,
msp-2 transcripts expressed in vivo were isolated from peak
rickettsemia of sequential cycles. Cloning and sequencing of
msp-2 cDNA revealed that genetic variants of MSP-2 emerge
representing a minimum of four genetic variant types in each cycle
during persistent infection. Two-color immunofluorescence using
variant-specific antibody showed that emergence of MSP-2 variants
resulted in expression of a minimum of three antigenic types of MSP-2
within one rickettsemic cycle. Therefore immune control of each cycle
would require responses to an antigenically diverse A. marginale population. These findings demonstrate that polymorphic
MSP-2 variants emerge during cyclic rickettsemia in persistent A. marginale infection and suggest that emergent variants play an
important role in persistence.
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Expression of Anaplasma marginale Major
Surface Protein 2 Variants during Persistent Cyclic
Rickettsemia
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, Washington State University,
Pullman, WA 99164-7040. Phone: (509) 335-6030. Fax: (509) 335-8529. E-mail: dmf{at}vetmed.wsu.edu.
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