title: Patterns of sequence variation within the Neisseria meningitidis lactoferrin binding proteins.
abstract: Lactoferrin binding proteins A and B (LbpA and LbpB) compose the lactoferrin receptor of the obligate human pathogen  Neisseria meningitidis . This receptor is thought to be important for colonization and initiation of invasive disease because of its role in acquiring host iron and providing protection from the cationic peptide, lactoferricin. By virtue of its function, the receptor is accessible to the host immune system and displays substantial sequence variation. In this study, we analyzed a broad collection of LbpAs (62) and LbpBs (101) to determine the distribution of sequence variation within each protein and to search for patterns between sequence similarity and strain typing. The sequence variation in LbpA was predominantly observed in 3 surface loops and, surprisingly, in the N-terminal region immediately upstream of the predicted TonB box. The analysis of LbpB revealed that the variability was distributed throughout the protein, particularly in the highly variable negatively charged regions in the C-lobe, but otherwise was greater in the N-lobe than the C-lobe. There was no readily identifiable correlation between the sequence variation within LbpA, LbpB, multi-locus sequence type, or serogroup.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Adamiak
authors.forename: Amanda J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Beddek
authors.forename: Rolando
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pajon
authors.forename: Anthony B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Schryvers
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D008958:Models, Molecular; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein
chemical_list: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; C112566:LBPA protein, Neisseria meningitidis; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface