Mechanisms of Surface Antigenic Variation in the Human Pathogenic Fungus Pneumocystis jirovecii.

ABSTRACT: Microbial pathogens commonly escape the human immune system by varying surface proteins. We investigated the mechanisms used for that purpose by Pneumocystis jirovecii This uncultivable fungus is an obligate pulmonary pathogen that in immunocompromised individuals causes pneumonia, a major life-threatening infection. Long-read PacBio sequencing was used to assemble a core of subtelomeres of a single P. jirovecii strain from a bronchoalveolar lavage fluid specimen from a single patient. A total of 113 genes encoding surface proteins were identified, including 28 pseudogenes. These genes formed a subtelomeric gene superfamily, which included five families encoding adhesive glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored glycoproteins and one family encoding excreted glycoproteins.

SUBMITTER: Schmid-Siegert E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5676039 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature