The type 4 pilin of Moraxella nonliquefaciens exhibits unique similarities with the pilins of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Dichelobacter (Bacteroides) nodosus
Moraxella nonliquefaciens is a bacterium which is part of the normal flora of the human upper respiratory tract and is an occasional cause of disease. Using a previously cloned type 4 pilin gene (tfpQ) from Moraxella bovis as a hybridization probe, we have cloned an 826 bp Sau3AI fragment which contains an M. nonliquefaciens type 4 pilin gene (tfpA) from strain NCTC 7784. The pilin gene is expressed in Escherichia coli. We have examined NCTC 7784 and nine other M. nonliquefaciens strains by genomic Southern hybridization using tfpA as a probe, and they all appeared to have more than one pilin gene. While the predicted amino acid sequence of the M. nonliquefaciens tfpA pilin has conserved regions as compared to pilins of M. bovis and M. lacunata, it also shows similarities to both the type 4 pilin of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and the type 4 pilin of Dichelobacter nodosus (formerly Bacteroides nodosus).
BergstrømS.,
RobbinsK.,
KoomeyJ. M.,
SwansonJ.1986; Piliation control mechanisms in Neisseria gonorrhoeae
. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 83:3890–3894
BrorsonJ. E.,
FalsenE.,
Ehle-NilssonH.,
RodjerS.,
WestinJ.1983; Septicemia due to Moraxella nonliquefaciens in a patient with multiple myeloma. Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases 15:221–223
BøvreK.1984; Genus II. Moraxella Lwoff 1939, 173 emend. Henriksen and Bøvre 1968, 391AL
. Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology1296–303KriegN. R.,
HoltJ. G.
Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins;
BøvreK.,
FrøholmL. O.1972a; Variation of colony morphology reflecting fimbriation in Moraxella bovis and two reference strains of M. nonliquefaciens
. Acta Pathologica et Microbiologica Scandinavica B80:629–640
BøvreK.,
FrøholmL. O.1972b; Competence in genetic transformation related to colony type and fimbriation in three species of Moraxella
. Acta Pathologica et Microbiologica Scandinavica B80:649–659
BøvreK.,
BerganT.,
FrøholmL. O.1970; Electron microscopical and serological characteristics associated with colony type in Moraxella nonliquefaciens
. Acta Pathologica et Microbiologica Scandinavica B78:765–779
DalrympleB.,
MattickJ. S.1987; An analysis of the organization and evolution of type 4 fimbrial (MePhe) subunit proteins. Journal of Molecular Evolution 25:261–269
DewhirstF. E.,
PasterB. J.,
La FontaineS.,
RoodJ. I.1990; Transfer of Kingella indologenes (Snell and La Page, 1976) to the genus Suttonella gen. nov. as Suttonella indologenes comb, nov.; transfer of Bacteroides nodosus (Beveridge, 1941) to the Dichelobacter gen. nov., as Dichelobacter nodosus comb, nov.; and assignment of the genera Cardiobacterium, Dichelobacter and Suttonella to Cardio- bacteriaceae fam. nov. in the gamma division of Proteobacteria based on 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid sequence comparisons. Interna-tional Journal of Systematic Bacteriology 40:426–433
EllemannT. C.1988; Pilins of Bacteroides nodosus: molecular basis of serotypic variation and relationships to other bacterial pilins. Microbiological Reviews 52:233–247
EllemanT. C.,
HoyneP. A.1984; Nucleotide sequence of the gene encoding pilin of Bacteroides nodosus, the causal organism of ovine footrot. Journal of Bacteriology 160:1184–1187
FulksK. A.,
StephensS. P.,
GreenM. R.,
MarrsC. F.1990; Sequence analysis of the inversion region containing the pilin genes of Moraxella bovis
. Journal of Bacteriology 172:310–316
GrahamD. R.,
BandJ. D.,
ThornsberryC.,
HollisD. G.,
WeaverR. E.1990; Infections caused by Moraxella, Moraxella urethralis, Moraxella-iikc groups M-5 and M-6, and Kingella kingae in the United States, 1953-1980
. Reviews of Infectious Diseases 12:423–431
HenrichsenJ.,
FrøholmL. O.,
BøvreK.1972; Studies on bacterial surface translocation. 2. Correlation of twitching motility and fimbriation in colony variants of Moraxella nonliquefaciens, M. bovis, and M. kingii
. Acta Pathologica et Microbiologica Scandinavica B80:445–452
HermodsonM. A.,
ChenK. C. S.,
BuchananT. M.1978; Neisseria pilin proteins; amino-terminal amino-acid sequences and identification of an unusual amino acid. Biochemistry 17:442–445
HullR.,
GillR. E.,
HsuP.,
MinshewB. H.,
FalkowS.1981; Construction and expression of recombinant plasmids encoding type 1 or D-mannose-resistant pili from a urinary tract infection Escherichia coli isolate. Infection and Immunity 33:933–938
MarrsC. F.,
SchoolnikG.,
KoomeyJ. M.,
HardyJ.,
RothbardJ.,
FalkowS.1985; Cloning and sequencing of a Moraxella bovis pilin gene. Journal of Bacteriology 163:132–139
MarrsC. F.,
RuehlW. W.,
SchoolnikG. K.,
FalkowS.1988; Pilin gene phase variation of Moraxella bovis is caused by an inversion of the pilin genes. Journal of Bacteriology 170:3032–3039
MarrsC. F.,
RozsaF. W.,
HackelM.,
StephensS. P.,
GlasgowA. C.1990; Identification, cloning, and sequencing of piv, a new gene involved in inverting the pilin genes of Moraxella lacunata
. Journal of Bacteriology 172:4370–4377
MattickJ. S.1989; The molecular biology of the fimbriae of Bacteroides nodosus and the development of a recombinant DNA- based vaccine against footrot. Footrot and Foot Abscess of Ruminants195–218EgertonJ. R.,
YangW. K.,
RiflkinG. G.
Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press;
MeyerT. F.,
BillyardE.,
HaasR.,
StorzbachS.,
SoM.1984; Pilus genes of Neisseria gonorrhoeae : chromosomal organization and DNA sequence. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 81:6110–6114
NicholsonI. J.,
PerryA. C. F.,
VirjiM.,
HeckelsJ. E.,
SaundersJ. R.1987; Localization of antibody-binding sites by sequence analysis of cloned pilin genes from Neisseria gonorrhoeae
. Journal of General Microbiology 133:825–833
RozsaF. W.,
MarrsC. F.1991; Interesting sequence differences between the pilin gene inversion regions of Moraxella lacunata ATCC 17956 and Moraxella bovis EPP63
. Journal of Bacteriology 173: in the Press
SangerF.,
NicklenS.,
CoulsonA. R.1977; DNA sequencing with chain terminating inhibitors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 74:5463–5467
SastryP. A.,
FinlayB. B.,
PasloskeB. L.,
ParanchychW.,
PearlstoneJ. R.,
SmillieL. B.1985; Comparative studies of the amino acid and nucleotide sequences of pilin derived from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAK and PAO. Journal of Bacteriology 164:571–577
SwansonJ.,
KoomeyJ. M.1989; Mechanisms for variation of pili and outer membrane protein II in Neisseria gonorrhoeae
. Mobile DNA743–761BergD.,
HoweM.
Washington, DC: American Society for Microbiology;
TaylorR. K.,
MillerV. L.,
FurlongD. B.,
MekalanosJ. J.1987; Use of phoA gene fusions to identify a pilus colonization factor coordinately regulated with cholera toxin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 81:2833–2837
TowbinH.,
StaehelinT.,
GordonJ.1979; Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose sheets : procedure and some applications. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 76:4350–4354
TønjumT.,
BukholmG.,
BøvreK.1989; Differentiation of some species of Neisseriaceae and other bacterial groups by DNA-DNA hybridization. APMIS 97:395–405
WestS. E. H.,
ClarkV. L.1989; Genetic loci and linkage associations in Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis
. Clinical Microbiological Reviews 2:S92–S103
The type 4 pilin of Moraxella nonliquefaciens exhibits unique similarities with the pilins of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Dichelobacter (Bacteroides) nodosus