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Tpr Homologs in Treponema paraluiscuniculi Cuniculi A Strain

Departments of Medicine,¹ Pathobiology, University of Washington,³ Rosetta Inpharmatics, Seattle, Washington,⁴ Sezione di Microbiologia, Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica, Specialistea e Sperimentale, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy²

Received 10 May 2004/ Returned for modification 14 June 2004/ Accepted 29 July 2004

Treponema paraluiscuniculi, the etiologic agent of rabbit venereal syphilis, is morphologically indistinguishable from Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum (T. pallidum), the human syphilis treponeme, and induces similar immune responses and histopathologic changes in the infected host. Because of their high degree of relatedness, comparative studies are likely to identify genetic determinants that contribute to pathogenesis or virulence in human syphilis. The tpr (Treponema pallidum repeat) genes are believed to code for potential virulence factors. In this study, we identified 10 tpr homologs in Treponema paraluiscuniculi Cuniculi A strain and determined their sequence architecture. Half of this group of paralogous genes were predicted to be nonfunctional due to the presence of frameshifts and premature stop codons. Furthermore, the immune response against the T. paraluiscuniculi Tpr homologs in long-term-infected rabbits was studied by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and lymphocyte proliferation assay, showing that TprK is the only target of the antibody and T-cell responses during experimental infection and emphasizing the importance of this putative virulence factor in venereal treponematosis.

Editor: A. D. O'Brien

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