Sequence diversity of Bacillus thuringiensis flagellin (H antigen) protein at the intra-H serotype level.

ABSTRACT: In Bacillus thuringiensis, the hag gene encodes flagellin, the protein responsible for eliciting the immunological reaction in H serotyping. Specific flagellin amino acid sequences have been correlated to specific B. thuringiensis H serotypes, H1 to H67. Ten H serotypes, however, contain three or more antigenic subfactors, labeled a, b, c, d, or e, and have been subdivided into 23 serovars. In the present study, we set out to analyze the sequence diversity of flagellins among serovars from the same H serotypes. We studied the hag genes in 39 B. thuringiensis strains representing the 23 serovars from the 10 H serotypes mentioned above. A serovar and a biovar from an 11th H serotype were also included. The hag genes were amplified and cloned and their nucleotide sequences were determined and

SUBMITTER: Xu D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2546614 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature