Staphylococcus aureus isolated from Kawasaki disease patients hyper-releases extracellular protein A.
S. aureus isolates from patients with Kawasaki disease (KD) release high levels of extracellular protein A (SpA), as compared to S. aureus in other diseases. The molecular weight of this released protein A is about 70 kDa. Extracellular KD SpA purified by affinity chromatography possessed the same amino acid sequence at the NH2-terminal IgG binding region and the same antigenic specificity as recombinant and cell-wall-bound SpA preparations. The size of DNA fragments containing the spa gene from S. aureus KD strains was 160-165 kb. All of these DNA fragments contained the igb portion encoding the IgG-binding region of KD SpA. Significantly higher molecular size of the SpA molecules hyper-released in the stationary-phase culture and the lack of production of other exo-proteins allow us to speculate that S. aureus isolated from patients with KD have mutations occurring in the agr locus.
Division of Pediatric Allergy-Immunology, National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver, CO 80206, USA.
Y V
YV
Ezepchuk
A P
AP
Fehringer
R
R
Harbeck
J H
JH
Freed
D Y
DY
Leung
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002846:Chromatography, Affinity; D017931:DNA Primers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005110:Extracellular Space / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009080:Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome / Q000382:microbiology*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013205:Staphylococcal Protein A / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*
D017931:DNA Primers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D013205:Staphylococcal Protein A