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Infect Immun, June 1998, p. 2576-2586, Vol. 66, No. 6
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Molecular Characterization of Mycoplasma
arthritidis Variable Surface Protein MAA2
Leigh Rice
Washburn,*
Keith E.
Weaver,
Elizabeth J.
Weaver,
Wendy
Donelan, and
Suhaila
Al-Sheboul
Department of Microbiology, University of
South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069
Received 3 October 1997/Returned for modification 30 December
1997/Accepted 17 March 1998
Earlier studies implied a role for Mycoplasma
arthritidis surface protein MAA2 in cytadherence and virulence
and showed that it exhibited both size and phase variability. Here we
report the further analysis of MAA2 and the cloning and sequencing of
the maa2 gene from two M. arthritidis strains,
158p10p9 and H606, expressing two size variants of MAA2. Triton X-114
partitioning and metabolic labeling with [3H]palmitic
acid suggested lipid modification of MAA2. Surface exposure of the C
terminus was indicated by cleavage of monoclonal antibody-specific
epitopes from intact cells by carboxypeptidase Y. The maa2
genes from both strains were highly conserved, consisting largely of
six (for 158p10p9) or five (for H606) nearly identical, 264-bp tandem
direct repeats. The deduced amino acid sequence predicted a largely
hydrophilic, highly basic protein with a 29-amino-acid lipoprotein
signal peptide. The maa2 gene was expressed in
Escherichia coli from the lacZ promoter of
vector pGEM-T. The recombinant product was approximately 3 kDa larger
than the native protein, suggesting that the signal peptide was not
processed in E. coli. The maa2 gene and
upstream DNA sequences were cloned from M. arthritidis clonal variants differing in MAA2 expression state. Expression state
correlated with the length of a poly(T) tract just upstream of a
putative
10 box. Full-sized recombinant MAA2 was expressed in
E. coli from genes derived from both ON and OFF expression variants, indicating that control of expression did not include alterations within the coding region.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Microbiology, School of Medicine, 237 Lee Building, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD 57069. Phone: (605) 677-5170. Fax: (605) 677-5658. E-mail: lwashbur{at}sunbird.usd.edu.
Infect Immun, June 1998, p. 2576-2586, Vol. 66, No. 6
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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