This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Snyder, L. A. S.
Right arrow Articles by Shafer, W. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Snyder, L. A. S.
Right arrow Articles by Shafer, W. M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, February 2001, p. 1233-1241, Vol. 183, No. 4
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.4.1233-1241.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

A Putatively Phase Variable Gene (dca) Required for Natural Competence in Neisseria gonorrhoeae but Not Neisseria meningitidis Is Located within the Division Cell Wall (dcw) Gene Cluster

Lori A. S. Snyder,1 Nigel J. Saunders,2,dagger and William M. Shafer1,3,*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 303221; Molecular Infectious Diseases Group, Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DS, United Kingdom2; and Laboratories of Microbial Pathogenesis, VA Medical Center, Decatur, Georgia 300333

Received 23 August 2000/Accepted 14 November 2000

A cluster of 18 open reading frames (ORFs), 15 of which are homologous to genes involved in division and cell wall synthesis, has been identified in Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis. The three additional ORFs, internal to the dcw cluster, are not homologous to dcw-related genes present in other bacterial species. Analysis of the N. meningitidis strain MC58 genome for foreign DNA suggests that these additional ORFs have not been acquired by recent horizontal exchange, indicating that they are a long-standing, integral part of the neisserial dcw gene cluster. Reverse transcription-PCR analysis of RNA extracted from N. gonorrhoeae strain FA19 confirmed that all three ORFs are transcribed in gonococci. One of these ORFs (dca, for division cluster competence associated), located between murE and murF, was studied in detail and found to be essential for competence in the gonococcal but not in the meningococcal strains tested. Computer analysis predicts that dca encodes an inner membrane protein similar to hypothetical proteins produced by other gram-negative bacteria. In some meningococcal strains dca is prematurely terminated following a homopolymeric tract of G's, the length of which differs between isolates of N. meningitidis, suggesting that dca is phase variable in this species. A deletion and insertional mutation was made in the dca gene of N. gonorrhoeae strain FA19 and N. meningitidis strain NMB. This mutation abrogated the ability of the gonococci to be transformed with chromosomal DNA. Thus, we conclude that the dca-encoded gene product is an essential competence factor for gonococci.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322. Phone: (404) 728-7688. Fax: (404) 329-2210. E-mail: wshafer{at}emory.edu.

dagger Present address: Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RE, United Kingdom.

Journal of Bacteriology, February 2001, p. 1233-1241, Vol. 183, No. 4
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.4.1233-1241.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Naessan, C. L., Egge-Jacobsen, W., Heiniger, R. W., Wolfgang, M. C., Aas, F. E., Rohr, A., Winther-Larsen, H. C., Koomey, M. (2008). Genetic and Functional Analyses of PptA, a Phospho-Form Transferase Targeting Type IV Pili in Neisseria gonorrhoeae. J. Bacteriol. 190: 387-400 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Aas, F. E., Egge-Jacobsen, W., Winther-Larsen, H. C., Lovold, C., Hitchen, P. G., Dell, A., Koomey, M. (2006). Neisseria gonorrhoeae Type IV Pili Undergo Multisite, Hierarchical Modifications with Phosphoethanolamine and Phosphocholine Requiring an Enzyme Structurally Related to Lipopolysaccharide Phosphoethanolamine Transferases. J. Biol. Chem. 281: 27712-27723 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Snyder, L. A. S., Jarvis, S. A., Saunders, N. J. (2005). Complete and variant forms of the 'gonococcal genetic island' in Neisseria meningitidis. Microbiology 151: 4005-4013 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Stabler, R. A., Marsden, G. L., Witney, A. A., Li, Y., Bentley, S. D., Tang, C. M., Hinds, J. (2005). Identification of pathogen-specific genes through microarray analysis of pathogenic and commensal Neisseria species. Microbiology 151: 2907-2922 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Tzeng, Y.-L., Datta, A., Ambrose, K., Lo, M., Davies, J. K., Carlson, R. W., Stephens, D. S., Kahler, C. M. (2004). The MisR/MisS Two-component Regulatory System Influences Inner Core Structure and Immunotype of Lipooligosaccharide in Neisseria meningitidis. J. Biol. Chem. 279: 35053-35062 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hegge, F. T., Hitchen, P. G., Aas, F. E., Kristiansen, H., Lovold, C., Egge-Jacobsen, W., Panico, M., Leong, W. Y., Bull, V., Virji, M., Morris, H. R., Dell, A., Koomey, M. (2004). Unique modifications with phosphocholine and phosphoethanolamine define alternate antigenic forms of Neisseria gonorrhoeae type IV pili. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101: 10798-10803 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Warren, M. J., Jennings, M. P. (2003). Identification and Characterization of pptA: a Gene Involved in the Phase-Variable Expression of Phosphorylcholine on Pili of Neisseria meningitidis. Infect. Immun. 71: 6892-6898 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Cox, A. D., Wright, J. C., Li, J., Hood, D. W., Moxon, E. R., Richards, J. C. (2003). Phosphorylation of the Lipid A Region of Meningococcal Lipopolysaccharide: Identification of a Family of Transferases That Add Phosphoethanolamine to Lipopolysaccharide. J. Bacteriol. 185: 3270-3277 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Albiger, B., Johansson, L., Jonsson, A.-B. (2003). Lipooligosaccharide-Deficient Neisseria meningitidis Shows Altered Pilus-Associated Characteristics. Infect. Immun. 71: 155-162 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Snyder, L. A. S., Butcher, S. A., Saunders, N. J. (2001). Comparative whole-genome analyses reveal over 100 putative phase-variable genes in the pathogenic Neisseria spp.. Microbiology 147: 2321-2332 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»