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Infect Immun, April 1998, p. 1622-1631, Vol. 66, No. 4
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Copy Number of Pilus Gene Clusters in Haemophilus influenzae and Variation in the hifE Pilin Gene

Timothy D. Read, Sarah W. Satola, Jason A. Opdyke, and Monica M. Farley*

Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Decatur, Georgia 30033

Received 13 October 1997/Returned for modification 8 December 1997/Accepted 7 January 1998

Brazilian purpuric fever (BPF)-associated Haemophilus influenzae biogroup aegyptius strain F3031 contains two identical copies of a five gene cluster (hifA to hifE) encoding pili similar to well-characterized Hif fimbriae of H. influenzae type b. HifE, the putative pilus tip adhesin of F3031, shares only 40% amino acid sequence similarity with the same molecule from type b strains, whereas the other four proteins have 75 to 95% identity. To determine whether pilus cluster duplication and the hifEF3031 allele were special features of BPF-associated bacteria, we analyzed a collection of H. influenzae strains by PCR with hifA- and hifE-specific oligonucleotides, by Southern hybridization with a hifC gene probe, and by nucleotide sequencing. The presence of two pilus clusters was limited to some H. influenzae biogroup aegyptius strains. The hifEF3031 allele was limited to H. influenzae biogroup aegyptius. Two strains contained one copy of hifEF3031 and one copy of a variant hifE allele. We determined the nucleotide sequences of four hifE genes from H. influenzae biogroup aegyptius and H. influenzae capsule serotypes a and c. The predicted proteins produced by these genes demonstrated only 35 to 70% identity to the three published HifE proteins from nontypeable H. influenzae, serotype b, and BPF strains. The C-terminal third of the molecules implicated in chaperone binding was the most highly conserved region. Three conserved domains in the otherwise highly variable N-terminal putative receptor-binding region of HifE were similar to conserved portions in the N terminus of Neisseria pilus adhesin PilC. We concluded that two pilus clusters and hifEF3031 were not specific for BPF-causing H. influenzae, and we also identified portions of HifE possibly involved in binding mammalian cell receptors.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Atlanta VA Medical Center, Medical Research Service 151, 1670 Clairmont Rd., Decatur, GA 30033. Phone: (404) 728-7688. Fax: (404) 329-2210. E-mail: mfarley{at}emory.edu.




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