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Infection and Immunity, August 2001, p. 5177-5181, Vol. 69, No. 8
Department of Molecular Microbiology and
Immunology, University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia,
Missouri 65212
Received 20 March 2001/Accepted 25 May 2001
A new mechanism expanding mycoplasmal surface diversity is
described. Exposure of surface epitopes on a constitutively expressed membrane protein (P56) of Mycoplasma hominis was subject to
high-frequency phase variation due to phase-variable expression of the
P120 antigen and its selective masking of P56 epitopes. Phase-variable
masking may confer previously unrealized adaptive capabilities on mycoplasmas.
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.8.5177-5181.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Coupled Phase-Variable Expression and Epitope Masking of
Selective Surface Lipoproteins Increase Surface Phenotypic
Diversity in Mycoplasma hominis
and
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, University of Missouri School of
Medicine, Columbia, MO 65212. Phone: (573) 882-8988. Fax: (573) 882-4287. E-mail: wisek{at}missouri.edu.
Present address: Food Animal Health Research Program, Department of
Veterinary Preventive Medicine, The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH 44691.
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