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Infect Immun, March 1998, p. 966-973, Vol. 66, No. 3
Department of Microbiology, The University of
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Received 25 July 1997/Returned for modification 7 September
1997/Accepted 4 December 1997
We cloned the MP1 gene, which encodes an abundant
antigenic cell wall mannoprotein from the dimorphic pathogenic fungus
Penicillium marneffei. MP1 is a unique gene without
homologs in sequence databases. It codes for a protein, Mp1p, of 462 amino acid residues, with a few sequence features that are present in
several cell wall proteins of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and
Candida albicans. It contains two putative N glycosylation
sites, a serine- and threonine-rich region for O glycosylation, a
signal peptide, and a putative glycosylphosphatidylinositol attachment signal sequence. Specific anti-Mp1p antibody was generated with recombinant Mp1p protein purified from Escherichia
coli to allow further characterization of Mp1p. Western blot
analysis with anti-Mp1p antibody revealed that Mp1p has predominant
bands with molecular masses of 58 and 90 kDa and that it belongs to a
group of cell wall proteins that can be readily removed from yeast cell
surfaces by glucanase digestion. In addition, Mp1p is an abundant yeast
glycoprotein and has high affinity for concanavalin A, a characteristic
indicative of a mannoprotein. Furthermore, ultrastructural analysis
with immunogold staining indicated that Mp1p is present in the cell
walls of the yeast, hyphae, and conidia of P. marneffei. Finally, it was observed that infected patients develop a specific antibody response against Mp1p, suggesting that this
protein represents a good cell surface target for host humoral
immunity.
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
MP1 Encodes an Abundant and Highly
Antigenic Cell Wall Mannoprotein in the Pathogenic Fungus
Penicillium marneffei
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Phone:
852-2855-4892. Fax: 852-2855-1241. E-mail:
lcao{at}hkucc.hku.hk.
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