Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum with an Artificially impaired TprK antigenic variation system is attenuated in the Rabbit model of syphilis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The TprK protein of the syphilis agent, Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum (T. pallidum), undergoes antigenic variation in seven discrete variable (V) regions via non-reciprocal segmental gene conversion. These recombination events transfer information from a repertoire of 53 silent chromosomal donor cassettes (DCs) into the single tprK expression site to continually generate TprK variants. Several lines of research developed over the last two decades support the theory that this mechanism is central to T. pallidum's ability for immune avoidance and persistence in the host. Structural and modeling data, for example, identify TprK as an integral outer membrane porin with the V regions exposed on the pathogen's surface. Furthermore, infection-induced antibodies preferentia

SUBMITTER: Romeis E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10063172 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature