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Infection and Immunity, January 2000, p. 294-302, Vol. 68, No. 1
Department of Microbiology, Swedish
University of Agricultural Sciences, S-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
Received 9 July 1999/Returned for modification 27 August
1999/Accepted 14 October 1999
Streptococcus dysgalactiae is one of the most important
bacterial species isolated from bovine mastitis. To identify potential virulence factors of this species we prepared chromosomal DNA from
strain 8215 and constructed a phage display library. By affinity selection of the library against fibrinogen (Fg), we isolated and
characterized a gene, called demA, encoding a protein with the molecular mass of ~58 kDa, called DemA, displaying both plasma protein binding properties and sequence similarities with the M and
M-like proteins of other streptococcal species. Purified recombinant
DemA protein was found to completely inhibit Fg-binding to cells of
S. dysgalactiae. A continued sequence analysis revealed that the demA gene was preceded by an open reading frame
(dmgA) coding for a putative protein, called DmgA, with
high similarities to the Mga proteins of Streptococcus
pyogenes. By additional cloning, the corresponding
dmgA and demA genes from another strain, called Epi9, were isolated and analyzed. These genes, called dmgB
and demB, respectively, revealed a high degree of
similarity to the corresponding genes in strain 8215. Increased binding
of Fg by cells of strain Epi9, grown in an atmosphere with 10%
CO2, was correlated to an enhanced transcription of the
demB gene as shown in a Northern blot. Strain 8215 did not
respond to CO2, which could be explained by a nonfunctional
dmgA gene due to insertion of an insertion sequence
element. Based on sequence similarities of the described proteins to
Mga, M, and M-like proteins and the response to elevated level of
CO2, we suggest that the dmg and dem genes are members of a regulon similar to the described
mga regulon in S. pyogenes, which encodes
several virulence factors in this species.
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Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
M-Like Proteins of Streptococcus
dysgalactiae
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Microbiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7025, S-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden. Phone: 46 18 673205. Fax: 46 18 673392. E-mail: Bengt.Guss{at}mikrob.slu.se.
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