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 arrowReprints and Permissions
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 Wang, X.
Right arrow Articles by Reed, S. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Wang, X.
Right arrow Articles by Reed, S. M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, December 2004, p. 6852-6859, Vol. 72, No. 12
0019-9567/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.72.12.6852-6859.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Rapid Sequential Changeover of Expressed p44 Genes during the Acute Phase of Anaplasma phagocytophilum Infection in Horses

Xueqi Wang,1 Yasuko Rikihisa,1* Tzung-Hui Lai,1 Yumi Kumagai,1 Ning Zhi,1,{dagger} and Stephen M. Reed2

Department of Veterinary Biosciences,1 Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio2

Received 9 June 2004/ Returned for modification 5 July 2004/ Accepted 11 August 2004

Anaplasma phagocytophilum immunodominant polymorphic major surface protein P44s have been hypothesized to go through antigenic variation, but the within-host dynamics of p44 expression has not been demonstrated. In the present study we investigated the composition and changes of p44 transcripts in the blood during the acute phase of well-defined laboratory A. phagocytophilum infections in naïve equine hosts. Three traveling waves of sequential population changeovers of the p44 transcript species were observed within a single peak of rickettsemia of less than 1 month. During the logarithmic increase, the rapid switch-off of the initial dominant transcript p44-18 occurred regardless of whether the bacterium was transmitted by ticks or by intravenous inoculation. Each of the subsequently dominant p44 transcript species was phylogenetically dissimilar from p44-18. Development of antibody to the hypervariable region of P44-18 during the rickettsemia suggests the suppression of dominance of immuno-cross-reactive p44 populations. When A. phagocytophilum was preincubated with plasma from the infected horse and then coincubated with HL-60 cells, the dominance of the p44-18 transcript was rapidly suppressed in vitro and most of the newly emerged p44 transcript species were previously undetected in this horse. This work provides experimental evidence of within-host p44 antigenic variation. Results suggest that the rapid and synchronized switch of expression is an intrinsic property of p44s reinitiated after transmission to naïve mammalian hosts and shaped upon exposure to immune plasma.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Veterinary Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, 1925 Coffey Rd., Columbus, OH 43210-1093. Phone: (614) 292-5661. Fax: (614) 292-6473. E-mail: rikihisa.1{at}osu.edu.

Editor: J. T. Barbieri

{dagger} Present address: Hematology Branch, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Md.

Infection and Immunity, December 2004, p. 6852-6859, Vol. 72, No. 12
0019-9567/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.72.12.6852-6859.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Wuritu, , Ozawa, Y., Gaowa, , Kawamori, F., Masuda, T., Masuzawa, T., Fujita, H., Ohashi, N. (2009). Structural analysis of a p44/msp2 expression site of Anaplasma phagocytophilum in naturally infected ticks in Japan. J Med Microbiol 58: 1638-1644 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sarkar, M., Troese, M. J., Kearns, S. A., Yang, T., Reneer, D. V., Carlyon, J. A. (2008). Anaplasma phagocytophilum MSP2(P44)-18 Predominates and Is Modified into Multiple Isoforms in Human Myeloid Cells. Infect. Immun. 76: 2090-2098 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Granquist, E. G., Stuen, S., Lundgren, A. M., Braten, M., Barbet, A. F. (2008). Outer Membrane Protein Sequence Variation in Lambs Experimentally Infected with Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Infect. Immun. 76: 120-126 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wang, X., Cheng, Z., Zhang, C., Kikuchi, T., Rikihisa, Y. (2007). Anaplasma phagocytophilum p44 mRNA Expression Is Differentially Regulated in Mammalian and Tick Host Cells: Involvement of the DNA Binding Protein ApxR. J. Bacteriol. 189: 8651-8659 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ge, Y., Rikihisa, Y. (2007). Identification of Novel Surface Proteins of Anaplasma phagocytophilum by Affinity Purification and Proteomics. J. Bacteriol. 189: 7819-7828 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wang, X., Kikuchi, T., Rikihisa, Y. (2007). Proteomic Identification of a Novel Anaplasma phagocytophilum DNA Binding Protein That Regulates a Putative Transcription Factor. J. Bacteriol. 189: 4880-4886 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Huang, H., Wang, X., Kikuchi, T., Kumagai, Y., Rikihisa, Y. (2007). Porin Activity of Anaplasma phagocytophilum Outer Membrane Fraction and Purified P44. J. Bacteriol. 189: 1998-2006 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Magnarelli, L. A., Stafford, K. C. III, IJdo, J. W., Fikrig, E. (2006). ANTIBODIES TO WHOLE-CELL OR RECOMBINANT ANTIGENS OF BORRELIA BURGDORFERI, ANAPLASMA PHAGOCYTOPHILUM, AND BABESIA MICROTI IN WHITE-FOOTED MICE. J Wildl Dis 42: 732-738 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • GATTON, M. L., PETERS, J. M., GRESTY, K., FOWLER, E. V., CHEN, N., CHENG, Q. (2006). DETECTION SENSITIVITY AND QUANTITATION OF PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM VAR GENE TRANSCRIPTS BY REAL-TIME RT-PCR IN COMPARISON WITH CONVENTIONAL RT-PCR.. Am J Trop Med Hyg 75: 212-218 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lin, Q., Zhang, C., Rikihisa, Y. (2006). Analysis of Involvement of the RecF Pathway in p44 Recombination in Anaplasma phagocytophilum and in Escherichia coli by Using a Plasmid Carrying the p44 Expression and p44 Donor Loci. Infect. Immun. 74: 2052-2062 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wang, X., Kikuchi, T., Rikihisa, Y. (2006). Two Monoclonal Antibodies with Defined Epitopes of P44 Major Surface Proteins Neutralize Anaplasma phagocytophilum by Distinct Mechanisms. Infect. Immun. 74: 1873-1882 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lin, Q., Rikihisa, Y. (2005). Establishment of Cloned Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Analysis of p44 Gene Conversion within an Infected Horse and Infected SCID Mice. Infect. Immun. 73: 5106-5114 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Abbott, J. R., Palmer, G. H., Kegerreis, K. A., Hetrick, P. F., Howard, C. J., Hope, J. C., Brown, W. C. (2005). Rapid and Long-Term Disappearance of CD4+ T Lymphocyte Responses Specific for Anaplasma Marginale Major Surface Protein-2 (MSP2) in MSP2 Vaccinates following Challenge with Live A. marginale. J. Immunol. 174: 6702-6715 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»