Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Infection and Immunity logoLink to Infection and Immunity
. 1988 Apr;56(4):808–814. doi: 10.1128/iai.56.4.808-814.1988

Multiple protein differences exist between Neisseria gonorrhoeae type 1 and type 4.

K W Klimpel 1, V L Clark 1
PMCID: PMC259374  PMID: 3126144

Abstract

Neisseria gonorrhoeae undergoes a spontaneous conversion from a form which is virulent, competent for DNA-mediated transformation, and piliated (type 1) to a form which is avirulent and neither piliated nor competent (type 4). This phase variation has become thought of as simply a conversion from piliated to nonpiliated. Using the techniques of cell fractionation, two-dimensional electrophoresis, and nonequilibrium pH gradient gel electrophoresis, we identified differences in the expression levels of multiple proteins between type 1 and type 4 cells. A total of 26 type 1-specific (T1S) and 23 type 4-specific (T4S) cytoplasmic or cytoplasmic membrane proteins were identified in O'Farrell two-dimensional gels. Using nonequilibrium pH gradient gel electrophoresis, we detected a minimum of eight T1S outer membrane proteins and four T4S outer membrane proteins which were not detected in the O'Farrell gels. Thus, the conversion from type 1 to type 4 is a complex event involving many different proteins of all cellular locations.

Full text

PDF
808

Images in this article

809Image
on p.809
809Image
on p.809
810Image
on p.810
812Image
on p.812
813Image
on p.813

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bergström S., Robbins K., Koomey J. M., Swanson J. Piliation control mechanisms in Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Jun;83(11):3890–3894. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.11.3890. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Clark V. L., Campbell L. A., Palermo D. A., Evans T. M., Klimpel K. W. Induction and repression of outer membrane proteins by anaerobic growth of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Infect Immun. 1987 Jun;55(6):1359–1364. doi: 10.1128/iai.55.6.1359-1364.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Doi R. H., Wang L. F. Multiple procaryotic ribonucleic acid polymerase sigma factors. Microbiol Rev. 1986 Sep;50(3):227–243. doi: 10.1128/mr.50.3.227-243.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Grossman A. D., Erickson J. W., Gross C. A. The htpR gene product of E. coli is a sigma factor for heat-shock promoters. Cell. 1984 Sep;38(2):383–390. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90493-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hagblom P., Segal E., Billyard E., So M. Intragenic recombination leads to pilus antigenic variation in Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Nature. 1985 May 9;315(6015):156–158. doi: 10.1038/315156a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hitchcock P. J., Hayes S. F., Mayer L. W., Shafer W. M., Tessier S. L. Analyses of gonococcal H8 antigen. Surface location, inter- and intrastrain electrophoretic heterogeneity, and unusual two-dimensional electrophoretic characteristics. J Exp Med. 1985 Dec 1;162(6):2017–2034. doi: 10.1084/jem.162.6.2017. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hunt T. P., Magasanik B. Transcription of glnA by purified Escherichia coli components: core RNA polymerase and the products of glnF, glnG, and glnL. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Dec;82(24):8453–8457. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.24.8453. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Jephcott A. E., Reyn A., Birch-Andersen A. Neisseria gonorrhoeae 3. Demonstration of presumed appendages to cells from different colony types. Acta Pathol Microbiol Scand B Microbiol Immunol. 1971;79(3):437–439. doi: 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1971.tb00086.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Jephcott A. E., Reyn A. Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Colony variation I. Acta Pathol Microbiol Scand B Microbiol Immunol. 1971;79(5):609–614. doi: 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1971.tb00088.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. KELLOGG D. S., Jr, PEACOCK W. L., Jr, DEACON W. E., BROWN L., PIRKLE D. I. NEISSERIA GONORRHOEAE. I. VIRULENCE GENETICALLY LINKED TO CLONAL VARIATION. J Bacteriol. 1963 Jun;85:1274–1279. doi: 10.1128/jb.85.6.1274-1279.1963. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Kellogg D. S., Jr, Cohen I. R., Norins L. C., Schroeter A. L., Reising G. Neisseria gonorrhoeae. II. Colonial variation and pathogenicity during 35 months in vitro. J Bacteriol. 1968 Sep;96(3):596–605. doi: 10.1128/jb.96.3.596-605.1968. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Mathis L. S., Scocca J. J. On the role of pili in transformation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. J Gen Microbiol. 1984 Dec;130(12):3165–3173. doi: 10.1099/00221287-130-12-3165. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Meyer T. F., Billyard E., Haas R., Storzbach S., So M. Pilus genes of Neisseria gonorrheae: chromosomal organization and DNA sequence. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Oct;81(19):6110–6114. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.19.6110. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Meyer T. F., Mlawer N., So M. Pilus expression in Neisseria gonorrhoeae involves chromosomal rearrangement. Cell. 1982 Aug;30(1):45–52. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90010-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. O'Farrell P. H. High resolution two-dimensional electrophoresis of proteins. J Biol Chem. 1975 May 25;250(10):4007–4021. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Radman M. SOS repair hypothesis: phenomenology of an inducible DNA repair which is accompanied by mutagenesis. Basic Life Sci. 1975;5A:355–367. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4684-2895-7_48. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Segal E., Billyard E., So M., Storzbach S., Meyer T. F. Role of chromosomal rearrangement in N. gonorrhoeae pilus phase variation. Cell. 1985 Feb;40(2):293–300. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90143-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Segal E., Hagblom P., Seifert H. S., So M. Antigenic variation of gonococcal pilus involves assembly of separated silent gene segments. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Apr;83(7):2177–2181. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.7.2177. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Shaw D. J., Rice D. W., Guest J. R. Homology between CAP and Fnr, a regulator of anaerobic respiration in Escherichia coli. J Mol Biol. 1983 May 15;166(2):241–247. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(83)80011-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Sparling P. F. Genetic transformation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to streptomycin resistance. J Bacteriol. 1966 Nov;92(5):1364–1371. doi: 10.1128/jb.92.5.1364-1371.1966. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Swanson J., Bergström S., Barrera O., Robbins K., Corwin D. Pilus- gonococcal variants. Evidence for multiple forms of piliation control. J Exp Med. 1985 Aug 1;162(2):729–744. doi: 10.1084/jem.162.2.729. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Swanson J. Studies on gonococcus infection. XII. Colony color and opacity varienats of gonococci. Infect Immun. 1978 Jan;19(1):320–331. doi: 10.1128/iai.19.1.320-331.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Towbin H., Staehelin T., Gordon J. Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose sheets: procedure and some applications. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Sep;76(9):4350–4354. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.9.4350. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Unden G., Guest J. R. Cyclic AMP and anaerobic gene expression in E. coli. FEBS Lett. 1984 May 21;170(2):321–325. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(84)81336-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Weiss A. A., Falkow S. Genetic analysis of phase change in Bordetella pertussis. Infect Immun. 1984 Jan;43(1):263–269. doi: 10.1128/iai.43.1.263-269.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Yasbin R. E. DNA repair in Bacillus subtilis. I. The presence of an inducible system. Mol Gen Genet. 1977 Jun 8;153(2):211–218. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Infection and Immunity are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES