Involvement of the Haemophilus ducreyi gmhA gene product in lipooligosaccharide expression and virulence.

ABSTRACT: The lipooligosaccharide (LOS) present in the outer membrane of Haemophilus ducreyi is likely a virulence factor for this sexually transmitted pathogen. An open reading frame in H. ducreyi 35000 was found to encode a predicted protein that had 87% identity with the protein product of the gmhA (isn) gene of Haemophilus influenzae. In H. influenzae type b, inactivation of the gmhA gene caused the synthesis of a significantly truncated LOS which possessed only lipid A and a single 2-keto-3-deoxyoctulosonic acid molecule (A. Preston, D. J. Maskell, A. Johnson, and E. R. Moxon, J. Bacteriol. 178:396-402, 1996). The H. ducreyi gmhA gene was able to complement a gmhA-deficient Escherichia coli strain, a result which confirmed the identity of this gene. When the gmhA gene of H. ducreyi was inactiva

SUBMITTER: Bauer BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC108518 | biostudies-literature | 1998 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature