title: Purification of deformin, an extracellular protein synthesized by Bartonella bacilliformis which causes deformation of erythrocyte membranes.
abstract: A factor capable of deforming erythrocyte membranes, found in the culture supernatants of Bartonella bacilliformis, was purified 1840-fold using hydrophobic, ion exchange and gel exclusion chromatography. The final fractions contained a single detectable polypeptide species, referred to as deformin, having a molecular weight of 67000 by SDS-PAGE and a native molecular weight of 130,000 by gel exclusion chromatography or velocity sedimentation in a glycerol gradient. Erythrocytes treated with deformin acquire trenches, indentations, and invaginations which could be reversed by vanadate, dilauroylphosphatidylcholine (DLPC), or by raising the internal Ca2+ concentrations with the inophore A23187. Internal vacuoles also form. Erythrocytes treated with trypsin or neuraminidase are much more sensitive to deformin than untreated erythrocytes; erythrocytes treated with phospholipase D are less sensitive to deformin. This protein may play a role in causing the severe anemia which can result as a consequence of infection by B. bacilliformis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biochemistry and Genetics, College of Medicine, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, College Station 77843-1114.
authors.forename: Y H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Z Y
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Ihler
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001473:Bartonella / Q000254:growth & development; D000001:Calcimycin / Q000494:pharmacology; D002118:Calcium / Q000494:pharmacology; D002499:Centrifugation, Density Gradient; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D002852:Chromatography, Ion Exchange; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004907:Erythrocyte Deformability / Q000187:drug effects*; D004910:Erythrocyte Membrane / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008081:Liposomes; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008970:Molecular Weight; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines / Q000494:pharmacology; D010739:Phospholipase D / Q000494:pharmacology; D014638:Vanadates / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008081:Liposomes; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines; C092807:deformin protein, Bartonella bacilliformis; C015153:1,2-dilauroylphosphatidylcholine; D000001:Calcimycin; D014638:Vanadates; D010739:Phospholipase D; D002118:Calcium