title: Identification of Neisseria meningitidis genetic loci involved in the modulation of phase variation frequencies.
abstract: It has been proposed that increased phase variation frequencies in Neisseria meningitidis augment transmissibility and invasiveness. A Himar1 mariner transposon mutant library was constructed in serogroup A N. meningitidis and screened for clones with increased phase variation frequencies. Insertions increasing the frequency of slippage events within mononucleotide repeat tracts were identified in three known phase variation-modulating genes (mutS, mutL, and uvrD), as well as six additional loci (pilP, fbpA, fbpB, NMA1233, and two intergenic regions). The implications of these insertion mutations are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, 1510 Clifton Rd., Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. heather.alexander@hhs.gov
authors.forename: Heather L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: Andrew W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Rasmussen
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Stojiljkovic
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D015723:Gene Library; D006801:Humans; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D038381:Neisseria meningitidis, Serogroup A / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics*; D013045:Species Specificity; D019895:Transposases
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D019895:Transposases