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 Cameron, C. E.
Right arrow Articles by Van Voorhis, W. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Cameron, C. E.
Right arrow Articles by Van Voorhis, W. C.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, June 1999, p. 3168-3170, Vol. 67, No. 6
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Sequence Conservation of Glycerophosphodiester Phosphodiesterase among Treponema pallidum Strains

Caroline E. Cameron, Christa Castro, Sheila A. Lukehart, and Wesley C. Van Voorhis*

Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195

Received 16 February 1999/Accepted 23 March 1999

Previous investigations have demonstrated that immunization with Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum glycerophosphodiester phosphodiesterase significantly protects rabbits from subsequent treponeme challenge. In this report, we show that the glycerophosphodiester phosphodiesterase amino acid sequence is conserved among 12 strains from a total of five pathogenic treponemes. The invariant nature of this immunoprotective antigen makes it an attractive candidate for inclusion in a universal subunit vaccine against T. pallidum infection. In addition, these studies show a silent nucleotide substitution at position 579 of the gpd open reading frame which is consistently observed in the non-T. pallidum subsp. pallidum strains. This sequence alteration introduces a PleI restriction site in the nonsyphilis strains and thus allows genetic differentiation from T. pallidum subsp. pallidum strains.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Medicine, University of Washington, 1959 Pacific Ave., N.E., Box 357185, Seattle, WA 98195. Phone: (206) 543-0821. Fax: (206) 685-8681. E-mail: wesley{at}u.washington.edu.

Infection and Immunity, June 1999, p. 3168-3170, Vol. 67, No. 6
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • LaFond, R. E., Lukehart, S. A. (2006). Biological Basis for Syphilis. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 19: 29-49 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Stamm, L. V., Bergen, H. L. (2000). The Sequence-Variable, Single-Copy tprK Gene of Treponema pallidum Nichols Strain UNC and Street Strain 14 Encodes Heterogeneous TprK Proteins. Infect. Immun. 68: 6482-6486 [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»