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. 1990 Jul;58(7):2177–2185. doi: 10.1128/iai.58.7.2177-2185.1990

Molecular analysis of a sphingomyelinase C gene from Leptospira interrogans serovar hardjo.

R P Segers 1, A van der Drift 1, A de Nijs 1, P Corcione 1, B A van der Zeijst 1, W Gaastra 1
PMCID: PMC258794  PMID: 2163985

Abstract

A thermolabile hemolysin from Leptospira interrogans serovar hardjo, strain Sponselee, was shown to specifically degrade sphingomyelin. Nucleotide sequence determination revealed that sphingomyelinase activity was encoded by an open reading frame of 1,668 nucleotides. Although a putative signal sequence could be identified, no evidence for protein export in either L. interrogans or Escherichia coli was obtained. The apparent molecular mass of the expression product in E. coli minicells was 41.2 kilodaltons, whereas open reading frame 1 encoded a protein of 63,268 daltons. The observed difference may be explained by processing at the carboxy-terminal part of the hemolysin in E. coli. A high degree of similarity on the DNA and protein levels with Staphylococcus aureus beta-hemolysin and sphingomyelinase C from three Bacillus cereus strains was observed. The presence of various sphingomyelinase genes within the L. interrogans species is demonstrated.

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Selected References

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