Two protein lysine methyltransferases methylate outer membrane protein B from Rickettsia.

ABSTRACT: Rickettsia prowazekii, the etiologic agent of epidemic typhus, is a potential biological threat agent. Its outer membrane protein B (OmpB) is an immunodominant antigen and plays roles as protective envelope and as adhesins. The observation of the correlation between methylation of lysine residues in rickettsial OmpB and bacterial virulence has suggested the importance of an enzymatic system for the methylation of OmpB. However, no rickettsial lysine methyltransferase has been characterized. Bioinformatic analysis of genomic DNA sequences of Rickettsia identified putative lysine methyltransferases. The genes of the potential methyltransferases were synthesized, cloned, and expressed in Escherichia coli, and expressed proteins were purified by nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni-NTA) affinity c

SUBMITTER: Abeykoon AH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3497471 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature