Nucleotide sequences of two fimbrial major subunit genes, pmpA and ucaA, from canine-uropathogenic Proteus mirabilis strains

• Published in: Microbiology (Society for General Microbiology) 1995-06, Vol.141 (6), p.1349-1357
• Main Authors: Kusters, Johannes G, Gaastra, Wim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Bacterial Adhesion; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacteriology; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Cell Adhesion Molecules - genetics; Cloning, Molecular; Dog Diseases - microbiology; Dogs; Enterobacteriaceae - genetics; Fimbriae Proteins; Fimbriae, Bacterial - chemistry; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes, Bacterial; Genetics; Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Phylogeny; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Protein Sorting Signals - genetics; Proteus Infections - microbiology; Proteus Infections - veterinary; Proteus mirabilis - genetics; Proteus mirabilis - isolation & purification; Sequence Alignment; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Species Specificity; Urinary Tract Infections - microbiology; Urinary Tract Infections - veterinary
• ISSN: 1350-0872; 1465-2080
• DOI: 10.1099/13500872-141-6-1349

1 Department of Bacteriology, Institute of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Utrecht, Yalelaan 1, PO Box 80. 165, 3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands ABSTRACT Proteus mirabilis strains were isolated from dogs with urinary tract infection (UTI) and fimbriae were prepared from two strains. The N-terminal amino acid sequences of the major fimbrial subunits were determined and both sequences appeared identical to the N-terminal amino acid sequence of a urinary cell adhesin (UCA) (Wray, S. K., Hull, S. I., Cook, R. G., Barrish, J. Hull, R. A., 1986, Infect Immun 54, 43-49). The genes of two different major fimbrial subunits were cloned using oligonucleotide probes that were designed on the basis of the N-terminal UCA sequence. Nucleotide sequencing revealed the complete ucaA gene of 540 bp (from strain IVB247) encoding a polypeptide of 180 amino acids, including a 22 amino acid signal sequence peptide, and the pmpA (P. mirabilis P-like pili) gene of 549 bp (from strain IVB219) encoding a polypeptide of 183 amino acids, including a 23 amino acid signal sequence. Hybridization experiments gave clear indications of the presence of both kinds of fimbriae in many UTI-related canine P. mirabilis isolates. However, the presence of these fimbriae could not be demonstrated in P. vulgaris or other Proteus-related species. Database analysis of amino acid sequences of major subunit proteins revealed that the UcaA protein shares about 56% amino acid identity with the F17A and F111A major fimbrial subunits from bovine enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. In turn, the PmpA protein more closely resembled the pyelonephritis-associated pili (Pap)-like major subunit protein from UTI-related E. coli. The evolutionary relationship of UcaA, PmpA and various other fimbrial subunit proteins is presented in a phylogenetic tree. Keywords: Proteus mirabilis, fimbriae, major subunit gene, urinary tract infection The EMBL accession numbers for the nucleotide sequences reported in this paper are X77611 (pmpA) and X77612 (ucaA).