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Journal of Bacteriology, November 2002, p. 6376-6383, Vol. 184, No. 22
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.22.6376-6393.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

A Proline-Rich Region with a Highly Periodic Sequence in Streptococcal ß Protein Adopts the Polyproline II Structure and Is Exposed on the Bacterial Surface

Department of Medical Microbiology, Dermatology and Infection,¹ Department of Biophysical Chemistry,² Department of Cell and Organism Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden³

Received 22 April 2002/ Accepted 23 June 2002

Proline-rich regions have been identified in many surface proteins of pathogenic streptococci and staphylococci. These regions have been suggested to be located in cell wall-spanning domains and/or to be required for surface expression of the protein. Because little is known about these regions, which are found in extensively studied and biologically important surface proteins, we characterized the proline-rich region in one such protein, the ß protein of group B streptococci. The proline-rich region in ß, designated the XPZ region, has a proline at every third position, and the sequence is highly periodic in other respects. Immunochemical analysis showed that the XPZ region was not associated with the cell wall but was exposed on the bacterial surface. Moreover, characterization of a ß mutant lacking the XPZ region demonstrated that this region was not required for surface expression of the ß protein. Comparison of the XPZ region in different ß proteins showed that it varied in size but always retained the typical sequence periodicity. Circular dichroism spectroscopy indicated that the XPZ region had the structure of a polyproline II helix, an extended and solvent-exposed structure with exactly three residues per turn. Because of the three-residue sequence periodicity in the XPZ region, it is expected to be amphipathic and to have distinct nonpolar and polar surfaces. This study identified a proline-rich structure with unique properties that is exposed on the surface of an important human pathogen.

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