title: Characterisation of the lpdA gene from Neisseria meningitidis by polymerase chain reaction, restriction fragment length polymorphism and sequencing.
abstract: P64k protein from Neisseria meningitidis is well recognised in sera from individuals convalescent from meningococcal disease or vaccinated with the Cuban antimeningococcal vaccine VA-MENGOC-BC. The presence of the protein in more than 80 meningococcal strains has also been verified. It is immunogenic in animal models and the antibodies elicited show bactericidal activity against meningococci. To further investigate at the molecular level whether lpdA, the gene coding for P64k protein, is conserved among different N. meningitidis strains, a total of 20 strains isolated from different geographic areas were differentiated on the basis of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns after polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the lpdA gene and restriction endonuclease digestion with HpaII. Although a total of five different PCR-RFLP patterns were present, nucleotide sequence determination showed that identity levels were as high as 93-99% among the N. meningitidis strains analysed.
authors.affiliation: División de Vacunas, Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología, La Habana, Cuba. ricardo.silva@cigb.edu.cu
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Menéndez
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Iglesias
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Musacchio
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Leal
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alvarez
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Coizeau
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martín
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Herrera
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guillén
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D022401:Meningococcal Vaccines; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D022401:Meningococcal Vaccines; C112623:lpdA protein, Neisseria meningitidis