Longitudinal TprK profiling of in vivo and in vitro-propagated Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum reveals accumulation of antigenic variants in absence of immune pressure.

ABSTRACT: Immune evasion by Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum (T. pallidum) has been attributed to antigenic variation of its putative outer-membrane protein TprK. In TprK, amino acid diversity is confined to seven variable (V) regions, and generation of sequence diversity within the V regions occurs via a non-reciprocal segmental gene conversion mechanism where donor cassettes recombine into the tprK expression site. Although previous studies have shown the significant role of immune selection in driving accumulation of TprK variants, the contribution of baseline gene conversion activity to variant diversity is less clear. Here, combining longitudinal tprK deep sequencing of near clonal Chicago C from immunocompetent and immunosuppressed rabbits along with the newly developed in vitro cultivat

SUBMITTER: Lin MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8480903 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature