Abstract
A 17-kDa, immunodominant antigen of Bartonella henselae Houston-1 has previously been cloned, sequenced, and characterized. This clone (H13) contains the 17-kDa antigen gene plus a partial open reading frame, designated ORF1, which is 459 nucleotides long and is directly upstream of the 17-kDa gene. Comparison of the deduced partial amino acid sequence of ORF1 with that of other known genes in GenBank revealed significant identity with several other bacterial virulence genes, including VirB4 of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens virB operon (56/149 amino acids). An overlapping clone, pGB3, was recovered and shown to contain a 3.0-kb region upstream of the 17-kDa gene. Sequence analysis revealed three ORFs upstream of the gene. The deduced amino acid sequence of each ORF was compared with sequences in GenBank, and identity was found with VirB2, VirB3, and VirB4 of A. tumefaciens. In vitro transcription/translation and SDS-PAGE demonstrated that three proteins of 9 kDa, 10 kDa, and 92 kDa, corresponding to the predicted molecular weight of 10.9 kDa, 11.7 kDa, and 89.9 kDa of VirB2, VirB3, and VirB4, respectively, could be expressed from these coding regions. These results indicate that virulence-associated genes and their overall chromosomal arrangement are relatively well conserved between B. henselae and other gram-negative bacteria such as A. tumefaciens.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
