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A comprehensive genetic study of streptococcal immunoglobulin A1 proteases: evidence for recombination within and between species.

ABSTRACT: An analysis of 13 immunoglobulin A1 (IgA1) protease genes (iga) of strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus mitis, and Streptococcus sanguis was carried out to obtain information on the structure, polymorphism, and phylogeny of this specific protease, which enables bacteria to evade functions of the predominant Ig isotype on mucosal surfaces. The analysis included cloning and sequencing of iga genes from S. oralis and S. mitis biovar 1, sequencing of an additional seven iga genes from S. sanguis biovars 1 through 4, and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analyses of iga genes of another 10 strains of S. mitis biovar 1 and 6 strains of S. oralis. All 13 genes sequenced had the potential of encoding proteins with molecular masses of approximately 200 kDa containing the sequence motif HEMTH and an E residue 20 amino acids downstream, which are characteristic of Zn metalloproteinases. In addition, all had a typical gram-positive cell wall anchor motif, LPNTG, which, in contrast to such motifs in other known streptococcal and staphylococcal proteins, was located in their N-terminal parts. Repeat structures showing variation in number and sequence were present in all strains and may be of relevance to the immunogenicities of the enzymes. Protease activities in cultures of the streptococcal strains were associated with species of different molecular masses ranging from 130 to 200 kDa, suggesting posttranslational processing possibly as a result of autoproteolysis at post-proline peptide bonds in the N-terminal parts of the molecules. Comparison of deduced amino acid sequences revealed a 94% similarity between S. oralis and S. mitis IgA1 proteases and a 75 to 79% similarity between IgA1 proteases of these species and those of S. pneumoniae and S. sanguis, respectively. Combined with the results of RFLP analyses using different iga gene fragments as probes, the results of nucleotide sequence comparisons provide evidence of horizontal transfer of iga gene sequences among individual strains of S. sanguis as well as among S. mitis and the two species S. pneumoniae and S. oralis. While iga genes of S. sanguis and S. oralis were highly homogeneous, the genes of S. pneumoniae and S. mitis showed extensive polymorphism reflected in different degrees of antigenic diversity.

SUBMITTER: Poulsen K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC107875 | biostudies-literature | 1998 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A comprehensive genetic study of streptococcal immunoglobulin A1 proteases: evidence for recombination within and between species.

Poulsen K K Reinholdt J J Jespersgaard C C Boye K K Brown T A TA Hauge M M Kilian M M

Infection and immunity 19980101 1

An analysis of 13 immunoglobulin A1 (IgA1) protease genes (iga) of strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus mitis, and Streptococcus sanguis was carried out to obtain information on the structure, polymorphism, and phylogeny of this specific protease, which enables bacteria to evade functions of the predominant Ig isotype on mucosal surfaces. The analysis included cloning and sequencing of iga genes from S. oralis and S. mitis biovar 1, sequencing of an additional ...[more]

PMID: 9423856

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Project description:BackgroundHuman papillomavirus (HPV) has a causal role in cervical cancer with almost half a million new cases occurring each year. Presence of the carcinogenic HPV is necessary for the development of the invasive carcinoma of the genital tract. Therefore, persistent infection with carcinogenic HPV causes virtually all cervical cancers. Some aspects of the molecular evolution of this virus, as the putative importance of recombination in its evolutionary history, are an opened current question. In addition, recombination could also be a significant issue nowadays since the frequency of co-infection with more than one HPV type is not a rare event and, thus, new recombinant types could be currently being generated.ResultsWe have used human alpha-PV sequences from the public database at Los Alamos National Laboratory to report evidence that recombination may exist in this virus. A model-based population genetic approach was used to infer the recombination signal from the HPV DNA sequences grouped attending to phylogenetic and epidemiological information, as well as to clinical manifestations. Our results agree with recently published ones that use a different methodology to detect recombination associated to the gene L2. In addition, we have detected significant recombination signal in the genes E6, E7, L2 and L1 at different groups, and importantly within the high-risk type HPV16. The method used has recently been shown to be one of the most powerful and reliable procedures to detect the recombination signal.ConclusionWe provide new support to the recent evidence of recombination in HPV. Additionally, we performed the recombination estimation assuming the best-fit model of nucleotide substitution and rate variation among sites, of the HPV DNA sequence sets. We found that the gene with recombination in most of the groups is L2 but the highest values were detected in L1 and E6. Gene E7 was recombinant only within the HPV16 type. The topic deserves further study because recombination is an important evolutionary mechanism that could have high impact both in pharmacogenomics (i.e. on the influence of genetic variation on the response to drugs) and for vaccine development.

Dataset Information

A comprehensive genetic study of streptococcal immunoglobulin A1 proteases: evidence for recombination within and between species.

Publications

A comprehensive genetic study of streptococcal immunoglobulin A1 proteases: evidence for recombination within and between species.

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