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J Med Microbiol 52 (2003), 955-960; DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.05131-0
© 2003 Society for General Microbiology
ISSN 0022-2615

Characterization of variants of the gene encoding the p55 antigen in Pneumocystis from rats and mice

Liang Ma{dagger}, Geetha Kutty, Qiuyao Jia{dagger} and Joseph A. Kovacs

Critical Care Medicine Department, Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA

Correspondence Joseph A. Kovacs jkovacs{at}nih.gov

Received July 3, 2003
Accepted July 3, 2003

Variants of the p55 gene in rat-derived Pneumocystis carinii have been identified and its counterpart in mouse-derived P. carinii f. sp. muris has been cloned. By PCR amplification of P. carinii genomic DNA, five variants were identified that differed from each other in size and sequence, primarily in the number and size of encoded amino acid repeats. For P. carinii f. sp. muris, a single PCR fragment (471 bp) was obtained, which contained an incomplete ORF encoding a 157 aa protein that was most similar to a p55 variant in P. carinii, with nucleotide and amino acid sequence identity of 79 and 68 %, respectively. Southern blot analysis revealed the presence of more than one copy of the p55 gene in both Pneumocystis species. Thus, like other Pneumocystis antigens, p55 exhibits polymorphism that could potentially benefit the organism in host interactions.

{dagger}Present address: Infectious Diseases Section, Department of Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Science Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.

Abbreviation: MSG, major surface glycoprotein.

The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the sequences of Pneumocystis p55 variant genes are AF494448–AF494452.




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Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the rRNA Operon and Variable Numbers of Tandem Repeats in the Lipoprotein Gene among Mycoplasma genitalium Strains from Clinical Specimens
J. Clin. Microbiol., October 1, 2004; 42(10): 4876 - 4878.
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