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Infection and Immunity, March 2002, p. 1175-1184, Vol. 70, No. 3
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.3.1175-1184.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Transcript Heterogeneity of the p44 Multigene Family in a Human Granulocytic Ehrlichiosis Agent Transmitted by Ticks

Ning Zhi,1 Norio Ohashi,1 Tomoko Tajima,1 Jason Mott,1 Roger W. Stich,2 Debra Grover,2 Sam R. Telford III,3 Quan Lin,1 and Yasuko Rikihisa1*

Departments of Veterinary Biosciences,1 Veterinary Preventive Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210-1093,2 Department of Tropical Public Health, Harvard University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 021153

Received 26 July 2001/ Returned for modification 4 October 2001/ Accepted 15 November 2001

Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE) is an emerging tick-borne zoonosis caused by a strain of Anaplasma phagocytophila called the HGE agent, an obligatory intracellular bacterium. The agent expresses immunodominant 44-kDa outer membrane proteins (P44s) encoded by a multigene family. The present study established an experimental process for transmission of the HGE agent from infected mice (a reservoir model) to nymphal Ixodes scapularis ticks (a biological vector) and subsequently to horses (a patient model) by the adult infected ticks. Overall, a total of 20 different p44 transcripts were detected in the mammals, ticks, and cell cultures. Among them, a transcript from a p44-18 gene was major at acute stage in mice and horses but minor in ticks. Both mRNA and protein produced from the p44-18 gene were detected in the HGE agent cultivated in HL-60 cells at 37°C, but their expression levels decreased in the organisms cultivated at 24°C, suggesting that temperature is one of the factors that influence the expression of members of the p44 multigene family. Several additional p44 transcripts that were not detected in the mammals at the acute stage of infection were detected in ticks. Phylogenetic analysis of the 20 different p44 transcripts revealed that the major transcripts found in mammals and ticks were distinct, suggesting a difference in surface properties between populations of the HGE agent in different host environments. The present study provides new information for understanding the role of the p44 multigene family in transmission of the HGE agent between mammals and ticks.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Veterinary Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, 1925 Coffey Rd., Columbus, OH 43210-1093. Phone: (614) 292-5661. Fax: (614) 292-6473. E-mail: rikihisa.1{at}osu.edu.

Infection and Immunity, March 2002, p. 1175-1184, Vol. 70, No. 3
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.3.1175-1184.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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