Outer Membrane Protein A Conservation among Orientia tsutsugamushi Isolates Suggests Its Potential as a Protective Antigen and Diagnostic Target.

ABSTRACT: Scrub typhus threatens one billion people in the Asia-Pacific area and cases have emerged outside this region. It is caused by infection with any of the multitude of strains of the bacterium Orientia tsutsugamushi. A vaccine that affords heterologous protection and a commercially-available molecular diagnostic assay are lacking. Herein, we determined that the nucleotide and translated amino acid sequences of outer membrane protein A (OmpA) are highly conserved among 51 O. tsutsugamushi isolates. Molecular modeling revealed the predicted tertiary structure of O. tsutsugamushi OmpA to be very similar to that of the phylogenetically-related pathogen, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, including the location of a helix that contains residues functionally essential for A.

SUBMITTER: Evans SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6073748 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature