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Journal of Bacteriology, July 2005, p. 4782-4791, Vol. 187, No. 14
0021-9193/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.187.14.4782-4791.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Transcription Analysis of the Major Antigenic Protein 1 Multigene Family of Three In Vitro-Cultured Ehrlichia ruminantium Isolates

Cornelis P. J. Bekker,1* Milagros Postigo,2 Amar Taoufik,1 Lesley Bell-Sakyi,2 Conchita Ferraz,3 Dominique Martinez,4 and Frans Jongejan1,5

Division of Parasitology and Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80165, 3508TD Utrecht, The Netherlands,1 Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Roslin, Midlothian, Scotland, United Kingdom,2 Institut de Génétique Humaine (IGH), CNRS UPR 1142, Montpellier,3 Centre International en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, CIRAD-EMVT, Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, France,4 Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, South Africa5

Received 23 August 2004/ Accepted 4 April 2005

Ehrlichia ruminantium, an obligate intracellular bacterium transmitted by ticks of the genus Amblyomma, causes heartwater disease in ruminants. The gene coding for the major antigenic protein MAP1 is part of a multigene family consisting of a cluster containing 16 paralogs. In the search for differentially regulated genes between E. ruminantium grown in endothelial and tick cell lines that could be used in vaccine development and to determine if differences in the map1 gene cluster exist between different isolates of E. ruminantium, we analyzed the map1 gene cluster of the Senegal and Gardel isolates of E. ruminantium. Both isolates contained the same number of genes, and the same organization as found in the genome sequence of the Welgevonden isolate (H. Van Heerden, N. E. Collins, K. A. Brayton, C. Rademeyer, and B. A. Allsopp, Gene 330:159-168, 2004). However, comparison of two subpopulations of the Gardel isolate maintained in different laboratories demonstrated that recombination between map1-3 and map1-2 had occurred in one subpopulation with deletion of one entire gene. Reverse transcription-PCR on E. ruminantium derived mRNA from infected cells using gene-specific primers revealed that all 16 map1 paralogs were transcribed in endothelial cells. In one vector (Amblyomma variegatum) and several nonvector tick cell lines infected with E. ruminantium, transcripts were found for between 4 and 11 paralogs. In all these cases the transcript for the map1-1 gene was detected and was predominant. Our results indicate that the map1 gene cluster is relatively conserved but can be subject to recombination, and differences in the transcription of map1 multigenes in host and vector cell environments exist.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Virology, Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80165, 3508TD Utrecht, The Netherlands. Phone: 31-30-2531281. Fax: 31-30-2546723. E-mail: c.bekker{at}vet.uu.nl.

Journal of Bacteriology, July 2005, p. 4782-4791, Vol. 187, No. 14
0021-9193/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.187.14.4782-4791.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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