Distribution of a protein antigenically related to the major anaerobically induced gonococcal outer membrane protein among other Neisseria species.
The Pan 1 protein of Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a novel 54-kDa outer membrane protein expressed only when gonococci are grown in the absence of oxygen. It is a major antigen recognized by sera from patients with gonococcal infection. We raised mouse monospecific polyclonal antiserum to gel-purified Pan 1 from gonococcal strain F62. The antiserum was broadly cross-reactive among gonococcal strains; all strains tested reacted in immunoblot analysis proportionate to the amount of Pan 1 visible in silver-stained sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gels. In immunoblot experiments, N. lactamica and N. cinerea reacted very strongly to the anti-Pan 1 antiserum, whereas N. sicca, N. flava, and N. mucosa did not react at all. The other commensals tested, N. subflava and N. perflava, exhibited only a minor reaction. These results correlated with the apparent amount of Pan 1 seen on SDS-polyacrylamide gels of outer membranes. SDS-polyacrylamide gel analysis of six meningococcal strains revealed no visible anaerobically induced outer membrane proteins, and the subsequent immunoblots showed only slight or no reaction to the anti-Pan 1 antibody. In the four meningococcal strains that did react slightly with the antiserum, a Pan 1-like protein was seen only in anaerobically grown cells. Thus, meningococci did not express Pan 1 at levels comparable to that found in gonococci; however, when Pan 1 was expressed in meningococcal strains, it was oxygen regulated. This is the first example of a protein found in the gonococcal outer membrane that, under identical growth conditions, is not expressed at similar levels in the meningococcus.
Hoehn
G T
GT
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, New York 14642.
Clark
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VL
D000693:Anaerobiosis; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology; D015151:Immunoblotting; D009343:Neisseria / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D009344:Neisseria gonorrhoeae / Q000032:analysis*
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins