IAI FigSearch
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Washburn, L. R.
Right arrow Articles by Al-Sheboul, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Washburn, L. R.
Right arrow Articles by Al-Sheboul, S.

Infect Immun, June 1998, p. 2576-2586, Vol. 66, No. 6
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Molecular Characterization of Mycoplasma arthritidis Variable Surface Protein MAA2

Leigh Rice Washburn,* Keith E. Weaver, Elizabeth J. Weaver, Wendy Donelan, and Suhaila Al-Sheboul

Department of Microbiology, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069

Received 3 October 1997/Returned for modification 30 December 1997/Accepted 17 March 1998

Earlier studies implied a role for Mycoplasma arthritidis surface protein MAA2 in cytadherence and virulence and showed that it exhibited both size and phase variability. Here we report the further analysis of MAA2 and the cloning and sequencing of the maa2 gene from two M. arthritidis strains, 158p10p9 and H606, expressing two size variants of MAA2. Triton X-114 partitioning and metabolic labeling with [3H]palmitic acid suggested lipid modification of MAA2. Surface exposure of the C terminus was indicated by cleavage of monoclonal antibody-specific epitopes from intact cells by carboxypeptidase Y. The maa2 genes from both strains were highly conserved, consisting largely of six (for 158p10p9) or five (for H606) nearly identical, 264-bp tandem direct repeats. The deduced amino acid sequence predicted a largely hydrophilic, highly basic protein with a 29-amino-acid lipoprotein signal peptide. The maa2 gene was expressed in Escherichia coli from the lacZ promoter of vector pGEM-T. The recombinant product was approximately 3 kDa larger than the native protein, suggesting that the signal peptide was not processed in E. coli. The maa2 gene and upstream DNA sequences were cloned from M. arthritidis clonal variants differing in MAA2 expression state. Expression state correlated with the length of a poly(T) tract just upstream of a putative -10 box. Full-sized recombinant MAA2 was expressed in E. coli from genes derived from both ON and OFF expression variants, indicating that control of expression did not include alterations within the coding region.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, 237 Lee Building, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD 57069. Phone: (605) 677-5170. Fax: (605) 677-5658. E-mail: lwashbur{at}sunbird.usd.edu.

Infect Immun, June 1998, p. 2576-2586, Vol. 66, No. 6
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. J. Virol. Eukaryot. Cell
Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. Clin. Vaccine Immunol. All ASM Journals

Copyright © 1998 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.