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Journal of Bacteriology, November 2002, p. 6270-6279, Vol. 184, No. 22
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.22.6270-6279.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Helicobacter pylori Expresses an Autolytic Enzyme: Gene Identification, Cloning, and Theoretical Protein Structure

Eleonora Marsich,1 Pierfrancesco Zuccato,1 Sonia Rizzi,1 Amedeo Vetere,1* Enrico Tonin,2 and Sergio Paoletti1

Dipartimento di Biochimica, Biofisica e Chimica delle Macromolecole,1 Dipartimento Scienze Biomediche, Università degli Studi di Trieste, I-34127 Trieste, Italy2

Received 29 April 2002/ Accepted 6 August 2002

Helicobacter pylori is an important pathogen of the gastric system. The clinical outcome of infection is thought to be correlated with some genetic features of the bacterium. However, due to the extreme genetic variability of this organism, it is hard to draw definitive conclusions concerning its virulence factors. Here we describe a novel H. pylori gene which expresses an autolytic enzyme that is also capable of degrading the cell walls of both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. We designated this gene lys. We found this gene and observed its expression in a number of unrelated clinical strains, a fact that suggests that it is well conserved in the species. A comparison of the nucleotide sequences of lys and the hypothetical gene HP0339 from H. pylori strain ATCC 26695 revealed almost total identity, except for the presence of an insertion consisting of 24 nucleotides in the lys sequence. The coding sequences of lys and HP0339 show a high degree of homology with the coding sequence of bacteriophage T4 lysozyme. Because of this similarity, it was possible to model the three-dimensional structures of both the lys and HP0339 products.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Dipartimento di Biochimica, Biofisica e Chimica delle Macromolecole, Università di Trieste, Via L. Giorgeri 1, I-34127 Trieste, Italy. Phone: (39) 040 558 3993. Fax: (39) 040 558 3691. E-mail: vetere{at}bbcm.univ.trieste.it.

Journal of Bacteriology, November 2002, p. 6270-6279, Vol. 184, No. 22
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.22.6270-6279.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Menard, A., Danchin, A., Dupouy, S., Megraud, F., Lehours, P. (2008). A Variable Gene in a Conserved Region of the Helicobacter pylori Genome: Isotopic Gene Replacement or Rapid Evolution?. DNA Res 15: 163-168 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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