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Infection and Immunity, August 2001, p. 4851-4857, Vol. 69, No. 8
Division of Microbiology, GBF-National
Research Center for Biotechnology, Braunschweig, Germany
Received 19 January 2001/Returned for modification 22 February
2001/Accepted 1 May 2001
Immunoglobulin binding proteins are one of several pathogenicity
factors which have been associated with invasive disease caused by
group A streptococci. The surface-bound M and M-like proteins of
Streptococcus pyogenes are the most characterized of
these immunoglobulin binding proteins, and in most cases they bind only
a single antibody class. Here we report the identification of a novel
non-M-type secreted protein, designated SibA (for secreted immunoglobulin binding protein from group A streptococcus), which binds
all immunoglobulin G (IgG) subclasses, the Fc and Fab fragments, and
also IgA and IgM. SibA has no significant sequence homology to any
M-related proteins, is not found in the vir regulon, and contains none of the characteristic M-protein regions, such as the A or
C repeats. Like M proteins, however, SibA does have relatively high
levels of alanine, lysine, glutamic acid, leucine, and glycine. SibA
and M proteins also share an alpha-helical N-terminal secondary structure which has been previously implicated in immunoglobulin binding in M proteins. Evidence presented here indicates that this is
also the case for SibA. SibA also has regions of local similarity with
other coiled-coil proteins such as Listeria
monocytogenes P45 autolysin, human myosin heavy chain,
macrogolgin, and Schistoma mansoni paramyosin, some of
which are of potential significance since cross-reactive antibodies
between myosin proteins and M proteins have been implicated in the
development of the autoimmune sequelae of streptococcal disease.
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.8.4851-4857.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Identification and Characterization of a Novel Secreted
Immunoglobulin Binding Protein from Group A Streptococcus

and
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Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Microbial Pathogenicity and Vaccine Research, GBF, Mascheroder Weg 1, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany. Phone: 49 531 6181 297. Fax: 49 531 6181 411. E-mail: gsc{at}gbf.de.
Present address: Department of Microbiology and Mycology,
University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
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