| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
1 The Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research and Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3SY, UK
2 National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, Blanche Lane, South Mimms, Hertfordshire EN6 3QG, UK
Correspondence
Martin C. J. Maiden
maiden{at}zoo.ox.ac.uk
Meningococcal FetA (FrpB), an iron-regulated outer-membrane protein and vaccine component, was shown to be highly diverse: a total of 60 fetA alleles, encoding 56 protein sequences, were identified from 107 representative Neisseria meningitidis isolates. Phylogenetic analysis established that the allelic variants had been generated by both point mutation and horizontal genetic exchange. Nucleotide substitution was unevenly distributed in the gene, which contained both conserved and variable sequence regions. The most conserved region of the translated peptide sequence corresponded to an amino-terminal domain of the protein and the most diverse region to a previously identified variable region (VR). A nomenclature system for the peptides encoded by the VR was devised which classified 24 variants into 5 FetA variant families. On the basis of these data, murine polyclonal sera specific for four FetA variants were generated. The reactivities of these sera in whole-cell ELISA experiments were consistent with the hypothesis that the VR encoded an immunodominant epitope and indicated that the sera reacted mainly with variants against which they were raised. The diversity of this protein is likely to limit its effectiveness as a vaccine component.
The GenBank accession numbers for the sequences reported in this paper are AF439155–AF439260.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  A. J. Beddek, M.-S. Li, J. S. Kroll, T. W. Jordan, and D. R. Martin Evidence for Capsule Switching between Carried and Disease-Causing Neisseria meningitidis Strains Infect. Immun., July 1, 2009; 77(7): 2989 - 2994. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 L. S. Katz, C. R. Bolen, B. H. Harcourt, S. Schmink, X. Wang, A. Kislyuk, R. T. Taylor, L. W. Mayer, and I. K. Jordan Meningococcus genome informatics platform: a system for analyzing multilocus sequence typing data Nucleic Acids Res., July 1, 2009; 37(suppl_2): W606 - W611. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. E. Russell, R. Urwin, S. J. Gray, A. J. Fox, I. M. Feavers, and M. C. J. Maiden Molecular epidemiology of meningococcal disease in England and Wales 1975-1995, before the introduction of serogroup C conjugate vaccines Microbiology, April 1, 2008; 154(4): 1170 - 1177. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 H. Claus, J. Elias, C. Meinhardt, M. Frosch, and U. Vogel Deletion of the Meningococcal fetA Gene Used for Antigen Sequence Typing of Invasive and Commensal Isolates from Germany: Frequencies and Mechanisms J. Clin. Microbiol., September 1, 2007; 45(9): 2960 - 2964. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M.-K. Taha, J. A. Vazquez, E. Hong, D. E. Bennett, S. Bertrand, S. Bukovski, M. T. Cafferkey, F. Carion, J. J. Christensen, M. Diggle, et al. Target Gene Sequencing To Characterize the Penicillin G Susceptibility of Neisseria meningitidis Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., August 1, 2007; 51(8): 2784 - 2792. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. Wedege, K. Bolstad, A. Aase, T. K. Herstad, L. McCallum, E. Rosenqvist, P. Oster, and D. Martin Functional and Specific Antibody Responses in Adult Volunteers in New Zealand Who Were Given One of Two Different Meningococcal Serogroup B Outer Membrane Vesicle Vaccines Clin. Vaccine Immunol., July 1, 2007; 14(7): 830 - 838. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. W. Marsh, M. M. O'Leary, K. A. Shutt, and L. H. Harrison Deletion of fetA Gene Sequences in Serogroup B and C Neisseria meningitidis Isolates J. Clin. Microbiol., April 1, 2007; 45(4): 1333 - 1335. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. Elias and U. Vogel IS1301 Fingerprint Analysis of Neisseria meningitidis Strains Belonging to the ET-15 Clone J. Clin. Microbiol., January 1, 2007; 45(1): 159 - 167. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. Elias, Health Office in the Rural District Office Wartbur, H. Claus, M. Frosch, and U. Vogel Evidence for Indirect Nosocomial Transmission of Neisseria meningitidis Resulting in Two Cases of Invasive Meningococcal Disease J. Clin. Microbiol., November 1, 2006; 44(11): 4276 - 4278. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. T. Beernink, A. Leipus, and D. M. Granoff Rapid Genetic Grouping of Factor H-Binding Protein (Genome-Derived Neisserial Antigen 1870), a Promising Group B Meningococcal Vaccine Candidate. Clin. Vaccine Immunol., July 1, 2006; 13(7): 758 - 763. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. Norheim, E. Rosenqvist, A. Aseffa, M. A. Yassin, G. Mengistu, A. Kassu, D. Fikremariam, W. Tamire, E. A. Hoiby, T. Alebel, et al. Characterization of Neisseria meningitidis Isolates from Recent Outbreaks in Ethiopia and Comparison with Those Recovered during the Epidemic of 1988 to 1989. J. Clin. Microbiol., March 1, 2006; 44(3): 861 - 871. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 L. H. Harrison Prospects for Vaccine Prevention of Meningococcal Infection Clin. Microbiol. Rev., January 1, 2006; 19(1): 142 - 164. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
R. Urwin, J. E. Russell, E. A. L. Thompson, E. C. Holmes, I. M. Feavers, and M. C. J. Maiden Distribution of Surface Protein Variants among Hyperinvasive Meningococci: Implications for Vaccine Design Infect. Immun., October 1, 2004; 72(10): 5955 - 5962. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
U. Vogel, H. Claus, L. von Muller, D. Bunjes, J. Elias, and M. Frosch Bacteremia in an Immunocompromised Patient Caused by a Commensal Neisseria meningitidis Strain Harboring the Capsule Null Locus (cnl) J. Clin. Microbiol., July 1, 2004; 42(7): 2898 - 2901. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| INT J SYST EVOL MICROBIOL | MICROBIOLOGY | J GEN VIROL |
| J MED MICROBIOL | ALL SGM JOURNALS | |
