title: Proteoglycan receptor binding by Neisseria gonorrhoeae MS11 is determined by the HV-1 region of OpaA.
abstract: The interaction of the OpaA protein of Neisseria gonorrhoeae MS11mk with heparan sulphate-containing proteoglycan receptors on Chang conjunctiva epithelial cells was examined using isolated receptor binding and cell adherence/internalization assays. OpaA deletion proteins, in which the four surface-exposed regions of the protein were deleted individually, and chimeric OpaA/B proteins, in which the surface-exposed regions of the OpaA and OpaB proteins were exchanged, were expressed in N. gonorrhoeae. The recombinant deletion proteins and the chimeric OpaA/B proteins were surface exposed in the outer membrane of N. gonorrhoeae. Isolated receptor-binding assays and Chang cell infection assays with OpaA deletion variants indicated that hypervariable region 1 was essential for the interaction of N. gonorrhoeae with the proteoglycan receptor. Expression of chimeric OpaA/B proteins confirmed the central role of hypervariable region 1 in receptor binding and demonstrated that this domain alone confers the invasive biological phenotype in a non-heparan sulphate proteoglycan-binding Opa protein. The other variable regions of OpaA enhanced receptor binding in the presence of region 1, but did not constitute binding domains on their own. The results indicate that proteoglycan receptor binding results from a hierarchical interaction between the variable domains of the OpaA protein of MS11mk.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbial Structure and Function, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 903 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT 59840-2999, USA.
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Bos
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Belland
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002460:Cell Line; D003228:Conjunctiva / Q000166:cytology; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000382:microbiology; D017353:Gene Deletion; D019812:Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycans / Q000378:metabolism*; D006493:Heparin / Q000378:metabolism; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009344:Neisseria gonorrhoeae / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000378:metabolism*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D019812:Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycans; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C090348:Opa protein, Neisseria; D006493:Heparin