title: Conserved alanine rich protein Rv3878 in Mycobacterium tuberculosis contains sequence polymorphisms.
abstract: Host immune pressure and associated parasite immune evasion are key features of host-pathogen co-evolution. A previous study showed that human T cell epitopes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis are evolutionarily hyperconserved and thus it was deduced that M. tuberculosis lacks antigenic variation and immune evasion. Here, we selected 162 clinical M. tuberculosis complex (MTBC) isolates from China, amplified gene encoding Rv3878 and compared the sequences. The results showed that Rv3878, a conserved hypothetical alanine rich protein, is not conserved in M. tuberculosis strains and there are polymorphisms existing in the protein. The large number of amino acid changes in its T cell epitopes may reflect ongoing immune evasion.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Beijing 102206, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou 310003, China. Electronic address: jiangyi@icdc.cn.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Beijing 102206, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou 310003, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Respiratory Diseases Department of Nanlou, Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital, 28# Fuxing Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100853, China.
authors.forename: Zhijian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Beijing 102206, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou 310003, China.
authors.forename: Haican
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Immunology Department, Changzhi Medical College, Shanxi, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Beijing 102206, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou 310003, China.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Beijing 102206, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou 310003, China.
authors.forename: Xiuqin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Beijing 102206, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou 310003, China.
authors.forename: Haiyin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Beijing 102206, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou 310003, China.
authors.forename: Guilian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Beijing 102206, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou 310003, China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Beijing 102206, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou 310003, China. Electronic address: kanbiao@icdc.cn.
authors.forename: Biao
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kan
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Beijing 102206, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou 310003, China. Electronic address: wankanglin@icdc.cn.
authors.forename: Kanglin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wan
mesh_terms: D000409:Alanine / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017124:Conserved Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics; D017353:Gene Deletion; D006801:Humans; D057131:Immune Evasion / Q000235:genetics*; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; C480803:TB27.4 protein, Mycobacterium tuberculosis; D000409:Alanine
keywords: Immune evasion; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Rv3878