PILIN GENES OF EIKENELLA CORRODENS

腐蚀性艾肯氏菌是一种革兰氏阴性兼性厌氧菌， 与各种重大的人类感染有关，包括 牙周病、心内膜炎和伤口感染。一个有趣的故事 腐蚀性乳杆菌的特征是表现出菌落二型性。它 有人提出，这是由相位变化(或类似的 遗传过程)的菌毛蛋白基因表达。最近，我们已经证明了一个 淋球菌菌毛蛋白基因探针与腐蚀性奈瑟氏菌基因组杂交 Dna；此外，我们还看到电子中类似菌毛的结构。 显微照片。几个可能的菌毛蛋白基因克隆已经从 一个E.腐蚀了图书馆。这个项目的目标是净化和 鉴定腐生菌毛和菌毛素，克隆和鉴定E. 腐蚀了毛孔蛋白基因(S)，并测定了毛孔蛋白基因是否有表达 经历了相变。生化、分子遗传学和 将使用免疫学方法来解决这些问题。

Eikenella corrodens is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobe which is associated with a variety of significant human infections, including periodontal diseases, endocarditis, and wound infections. An interesting characteristic of E. corrodens is that it exhibits colony dimorphism. It has been suggested that this results from phase variation (or a similar genetic process) of pilin gene expression. Recently, we have shown that a Neisseria gonorrhoeae pilin gene probe hybridizes to E. corrodens genomic DNA; in addition, we have seen structures resembling pili in electron micrographs. Several presumptive pilin gene clones have been isolated from an E. corrodens library. The goals of this project are to purify and characterize E. corrodens pili and pilin, to clone and characterize E. corrodens pilin gene(s), and to determine whether pilin gene expression undergoes phase variation. Biochemical, molecular genetic and immunological approaches will be used to address these issues.