Transcription profiling by array of Transcriptional profiling of serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis growing in human blood: an approach to vaccine antigen discovery.

ABSTRACT: Neisseria meningitidis is a nasopharyngeal commensal of humans which occasionally invades the blood to cause septicaemia. The transcriptome of N. meningitidis strain MC58 grown in human blood for up to 4 hours was determined and around 10% of the genome was found to be differentially regulated. The nuo, pet and atp operons, involved in energy metabolism, were up-regulated, while many house-keeping genes were down-regulated. Genes encoding protein chaperones and proteases, involved in the stress response; complement resistant genes encoding enzymes for LOS sialylation and biosynthesis; and fHbp (NMB1870) and nspA (NMB0663), encoding vaccine candidates, were all up-regulated. Genes for glutamate uptake and metabolism, and biosynthesis of purine and pyrimidine were also up-regulated. Blood grown meningococci are under stress and undergo a metabolic adaptation and energy conservation strategy. The localisation of four putative outer membrane proteins encoded by genes found to be up-regulated in blood was assessed by FACS using polyclonal mouse antisera, and one (NMB0390) showed evidence of surface expression, supporting its vaccine candidacy. [Data is also available from http://bugs.sgul.ac.uk/E-BUGS-121]

ORGANISM(S): Neisseria meningitidis

SUBMITTER: Adam Witney 

PROVIDER: E-BUGS-121 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress