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Infect. Immun., Jan 1998, 364-368, Vol 66, No. 1
JW St. Geme 3rd, VV Kumar, D Cutter and SJ Barenkamp
Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae is a common cause of human disease and
initiates infection by colonizing the upper respiratory tract. In previous
work we identified high-molecular-weight adhesins referred to as HMW1 and
HMW2, expressed by nontypeable strain 12, and determined that most strains
of nontypeable H. influenzae express one or two antigenically related
proteins. More recently, we determined that some strains lack HMW1- and
HMW2-like proteins and instead express an adhesin called Hia. In the
present study, we determined the prevalence and distribution of the hmw and
hia genes in a collection of 59 nontypeable strains previously
characterized in terms of genetic relatedness. Based on Southern analysis,
47 strains contained sequences homologous to the hmw1 and hmw2 genes and
nine strains contained homologs to hia. No strain harbored both hmw and
hia, and three strains harbored neither. Although the hmw and hia genes
failed to define distinct genetic divisions, the hmw-deficient strains
formed small clusters or lineages within the larger population structure.
Additional analysis established that the IS1016 insertion element was
uniformly absent from strains containing hmw sequences but was present in
two- thirds of the hmw-deficient strains. As IS1016 is associated with the
capsule locus (cap) in most encapsulated strains of H. influenzae, we
speculate that hmw-deficient nontypeable strains evolved more recently from
an encapsulated ancestor.
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology
Prevalence and distribution of the hmw and hia genes and the HMW and Hia adhesins among genetically diverse strains of nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae
Edward Mallinckrodt Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, and St. Louis Children's Hospital, Missouri 63110, USA. stgeme@borcim.wustl.edu
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