Premium
The virulence‐associated gonococcal H.8 gene encodes 14 tandemly repeated pentapeptides
Author(s) -
Baehr W.,
Gotschlich E. C.,
Hitchcock P. J.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1989.tb00103.x
Subject(s) - biology , virulence , gene , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology , computational biology
Summary H.8 is a virulence‐associated, surface‐exposed, immunogenic macromolecule composed of lipid and protein, common to Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis. The H.8 DNA sequence predicted a 6.9 kD peptide comprising 14 tandemly repeated pentameric sequences. Ten were identical: Pro, Ala, Ala, Glu, Ala. Also predicted was a lipoprotein leader consensus sequence which probably specified acylation since the Escherichia coli ‐expressed protein was tightly associated with lipid. Lipid appeared to contribute significantly to H.8 antigen's electrophoretic mobility. This is the first description of a prokaryotic outer membrane protein composed solely of tandem repeats. Furthermore, DNA encoding this repeat appears to have been duplicated and translocated into another neisserial gene encoding an azurin.