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Infection and Immunity, September 2001, p. 5509-5519, Vol. 69, No. 9
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.9.5509-5519.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Neisseria meningitidis RTX Protein FrpC Induces High Levels of Serum Antibodies during Invasive Disease: Polymorphism of frpC Alleles and Purification of Recombinant FrpC

Radim Osicka,1 Jitka Kalmusová,2 Pavla Krízová,2 and Peter Sebo1,*

Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Bacterial Pathogens, Institute of Microbiology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Vídenská 1083, CZ-142 20 Prague 4,1 and National Reference Laboratory for Meningococcal Infections, National Institute of Public Health, Srobárova 48, CZ-100 42 Prague 10,2 Czech Republic

Received 8 January 2001/Returned for modification 22 February 2001/Accepted 25 May 2001

The Neisseria meningitidis FAM20 strain secretes two proteins of unknown function, FrpA and FrpC, which contain typical RTX domains found in cytotoxins from other gram-negative pathogens. To evaluate whether the Frp proteins could be involved in meningococcal virulence, 65 isolates of all serogroups were screened by PCR for the presence of both frp genes. The frpA allele was, however, poorly conserved. A single strain harbored an frpA allele of the previously described size, while large insertions were detected in the frpA loci of 22 isolates (34%), and the 42 remaining isolates (65%) did not contain frpA at all. In contrast, frpC alleles, albeit of variable length, were detected in all invasive and most carrier strains. This suggests that meningococci may produce a family of FrpC proteins of various molecular masses. High levels of both immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgA class antibodies recognizing recombinant FrpC were indeed detected in convalescent-phase sera of most patients at 2 and 4 to 5 weeks after the first symptoms of meningococcal disease. These results show that FrpC-like proteins are produced and may play a role in invasive meningococcal infections.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Microbiology CAS, Vídenská 1083, CZ-142 20 Prague 4, Czech Republic. Phone: (4202) 475 2762. Fax: (4202) 475 2152. E-mail: sebo{at}biomed.cas.cz.

Infection and Immunity, September 2001, p. 5509-5519, Vol. 69, No. 9
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.9.5509-5519.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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