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Infection and Immunity, October 2008, p. 4649-4658, Vol. 76, No. 10
0019-9567/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00393-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Two-Partner Secretion Systems of Neisseria meningitidis Associated with Invasive Clonal Complexes{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Peter van Ulsen,1* Lucy Rutten,2 Moniek Feller,3 Jan Tommassen,1 and Arie van der Ende3,4

Department of Molecular Microbiology, Utrecht University, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands,1 Department of Crystal and Structural Chemistry, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research, Utrecht University, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands,2 Department of Medical Microbiology, Center for Infection and Immunity Amsterdam, Academic Medical Center, 1100 DD Amsterdam, The Netherlands,3 The Netherlands Reference Laboratory for Bacterial Meningitis (AMC/RIVM), 1100 DD Amsterdam, The Netherlands4

Received 28 March 2008/ Returned for modification 20 May 2008/ Accepted 29 July 2008

The two-partner secretion (TPS) pathway is widespread among gram-negative bacteria and facilitates the secretion of very large and often virulence-related proteins. TPS systems consist of a secreted TpsA protein and a TpsB protein involved in TpsA transport across the outer membrane. Sequenced Neisseria meningitidis genomes contain up to five TpsA- and two TpsB-encoding genes. Here, we investigated the distribution of TPS-related open reading frames in a collection of disease isolates. Three distinct TPS systems were identified among meningococci. System 1 was ubiquitous, while systems 2 and 3 were significantly more prevalent among isolates of hyperinvasive clonal complexes than among isolates of poorly invasive clonal complexes. In laboratory cultures, systems 1 and 2 were expressed. However, several sera from patients recovering from disseminated meningococcal disease recognized the TpsAs of systems 2 and 3, indicating the expression of these systems during infection. Furthermore, we showed that the major secreted TpsAs of systems 1 and 2 depend on their cognate TpsBs for transport across the outer membrane and that the system 1 TpsAs undergo processing. Together, our data indicate that TPS systems may contribute to the virulence of N. meningitidis.

* Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Molecular Microbiology, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Phone: 31-(0)20-5987177. Fax: 31-20-5987155. E-mail: peter.van.ulsen{at}falw.vu.nl

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 4 August 2008.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://iai.asm.org/.

Editor: J. B. Bliska

Infection and Immunity, October 2008, p. 4649-4658, Vol. 76, No. 10
0019-9567/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00393-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Neil, R. B., Apicella, M. A. (2009). Role of HrpA in Biofilm Formation of Neisseria meningitidis and Regulation of the hrpBAS Transcripts. Infect. Immun. 77: 2285-2293 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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