Restriction of major surface protein 2 (MSP2) variants during tick transmission of the ehrlichia Anaplasma marginale.

ABSTRACT: Anaplasma marginale is an ehrlichial pathogen of cattle that establishes lifelong persistent infection. Persistence is characterized by rickettsemic cycles in which new A. marginale variant types, defined by the sequence of the expressed msp2 transcripts, emerge. The polymorphic msp2 transcripts encode structurally distinct MSP2 proteins and result in an antigenically diverse and continually changing A. marginale population within the blood. In this manuscript, we used sequence analysis of msp2 transcripts to show that a restricted repertoire of variant types, designated SGV1 and SGV2, is expressed within the tick salivary gland. The same SGV1 and SGV2 variant types were expressed in ticks regardless of the variant types expressed in the blood of infected cattle at the time of acquisition

SUBMITTER: Rurangirwa FR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC15914 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature