title: Antigen sequence typing of outer membrane protein (fetA) gene of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A from Delhi & adjoining areas.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Meningitis caused by Neisseria meningitidis is a fatal disease. Meningococcal meningitis is an endemic disease in Delhi and irregular pattern of outbreaks has been reported in India. All these outbreaks were associated with serogroup A. Detailed molecular characterization of N. meningitidis is required for the management of this fatal disease. In this study, we characterized antigenic diversity of surface exposed outer membrane protein (OMP) FetA antigen of N. meningitidis serogroup A isolates obtained from cases of invasive meningococcal meningitis in Delhi, India.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eight isolates of N. meningitidis were collected from cerebrospinal fluid during October 2008 to May 2011 from occasional cases of meningococcal meningitis. Seven isolates were from outbreaks of meningococcal meningitis in 2005-2006 in Delhi and its adjoining areas. These were subjected to molecular typing of fetA gene, an outer membrane protein gene.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All 15 N. meningitides isolates studied were serogroup A. This surface exposed porin is putatively under immune pressure. Hence as a part of molecular characterization, genotyping was carried out to find out the diversity in outer membrane protein (FetA) gene among the circulating isolates of N. meningitidis. All 15 isolates proved to be of the same existing allele type of FetA variable region (VR) when matched with global database. The allele found was F3-1 for all the isolates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was no diversity reported in the outer membrane protein FetA in the present study and hence this protein appeared to be a stable molecule. More studies on molecular characterization of FetA antigen are required from different serogroups circulating in different parts of the world.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dwivedi
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, All India Institute of Medical Science, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: B K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kapil
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sood
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chaudhry
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deb
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aneja
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000941:Antigens / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000235:genetics*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008581:Meningitis / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; C093120:FrpB protein, bacteria