Antigenic and sequence diversity in gonococcal transferrin-binding protein A.

ABSTRACT: Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a gram-negative pathogen that is capable of satisfying its iron requirement with human iron-binding proteins such as transferrin and lactoferrin. Transferrin-iron utilization involves specific binding of human transferrin at the cell surface to what is believed to be a complex of two iron-regulated, transferrin-binding proteins, TbpA and TbpB. The genes encoding these proteins have been cloned and sequenced from a number of pathogenic, gram-negative bacteria. In the current study, we sequenced four additional tbpA genes from other N. gonorrhoeae strains to begin to assess the sequence diversity among gonococci. We compared these sequences to those from other pathogenic bacteria to identify conserved regions that might be important for the structure and function of

SUBMITTER: Cornelissen CN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC98422 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature