Abstract
Neisseria gonorrhoeae engages in extensive intra-cellular gene conversion between the PilE-expression locus (pilE) and the transcriptionally-silent pil gene copies (pilS). In silico analyses were applied to investigate the extent of sequence heterogeneity between the various pilS gene copies. Analysis of synonymous and non-synonymous substitutions between the different pilS genes indicated that relatively few amino acid changes would occur due to nucleotide polymorphisms towards the 5’ end of the pilS genes whereas more frequent amino acid substitutions would be incorporated within the “hypervariable” region. The lack of non-synonymous substitutions at the 5’ end of the genes was found to be under selective pressure as indicated by a positive DT score utilizing the Tajima test. The presence or absence of mismatch repair appeared to only impact recombination when non-identical DNAs recombined via the DNA transformation route, where small pil sequence heterogeneities were sufficient to terminate recombination tracts, with these sequence constraints being relieved in cells carrying a mutS mutation. Therefore, the data indicate that the effect of sequence heterogeneity on recombination within the pil system appears to depend upon the context with which the non-identical DNAs recombine.
Highlights
Neisseria gonorrhoeae causes the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea, which is generally aHow to cite this paper: Hill, S.A. and Wachter, J. (2014) Impact of Sequence Non-Identities on Recombination within the pil System of Neisseria gonorrhoeae
The analysis demonstrates considerable sequence heterogeneity between the pil gene copies (pilS) gene copies, yet apparent selective pressure constrains 5’ nucleotide polymorphisms within pilS that would allow only synonymous amino acid changes to occur within this region of PilE-expression locus (pilE) following a pilE/pilS recombination events
In order to determine the total extent of pil gene sequence heterogeneity, the pilS gene copies were examined using various in silico tools
Summary
Neisseria gonorrhoeae (the gonococcus) causes the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea, which is generally aHow to cite this paper: Hill, S.A. and Wachter, J. (2014) Impact of Sequence Non-Identities on Recombination within the pil System of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Neisseria gonorrhoeae (the gonococcus) causes the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea, which is generally a. How to cite this paper: Hill, S.A. and Wachter, J. (2014) Impact of Sequence Non-Identities on Recombination within the pil System of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Wachter non-complicated mucosal infection of humans that is characterized by a massive neutrophil infiltration. Though treatable by antibiotic therapies, vaccine development has been hampered due to the inability of the host to mount an effective immune response, in part, due to extreme antigenic and phase variation of several different gonococcal surface components (e.g., PilE polypeptide, opa gene expression, LOS variation; reviewed [1])
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