The Journal of Experimental Medicine
for flow cytometry > invitrogen
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents
Published online 27 October 2003 doi:10.1084/jem.20030381
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF, 359K)
Right arrow PPT slides of all figures
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new content in the JEM
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Aras, R. A.
Right arrow Articles by Blaser, M. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Aras, R. A.
Right arrow Articles by Blaser, M. J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?
© Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1007/2003/11/1349 $5.00
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Volume 198, Number 9, 1349-1360

Plasticity of Repetitive DNA Sequences within a Bacterial (Type IV) Secretion System Component

Rahul A. Aras1, Wolfgang Fischer2, Guillermo I. Perez-Perez1, MariaLuisa Crosatti1, Takafumi Ando3, Rainer Haas2 and Martin J. Blaser1

1 Department of Medicine and Department of Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine, and VA Medical Center, New York, NY 10016
2 Max von Pettenkofer-Institut fur Hygiene und Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat, 80336 Munich, Germany
3 First Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, 466-8550 Nagoya, Japan

Address correspondence to Rahul A. Aras, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, P.O. Box 100, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724. Phone: (516) 367-6885; Fax: (516) 367-8435; email: aras{at}cshl.edu

DNA rearrangement permits bacteria to regulate gene content and expression. In Helicobacter pylori, cagY, which contains an extraordinary number of direct DNA repeats, encodes a surface-exposed subunit of a (type IV) bacterial secretory system. Examining potential DNA rearrangements involving the cagY repeats indicated that recombination events invariably yield in-frame open reading frames, producing alternatively expressed genes. In individual hosts, H. pylori cell populations include strains that produce CagY proteins that differ in size, due to the predicted in-frame deletions or duplications, and elicit minimal or no host antibody recognition. Using repetitive DNA, H. pylori rearrangements in a host-exposed subunit of a conserved bacterial secretion system may permit a novel form of antigenic evasion.

Key Words: Helicobacter pylori • antigenic variation • genome plasticity • pathogenicity island • type IV secretion system


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:



  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search
TABLE OF CONTENTS