The phase-variable allele of the pilus glycosylation gene pglA is not strongly associated with strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolated from patients with disseminated gonococcal infection

Abstract

The Neisseria gonorrhoeae pglA gene has two alleles, one of which is phase variable. A previous study reported that all disseminated gonococcal infection (DGI) isolates contained the phase-variable allele and proposed a causal link. In the present study of 81 strains no absolute correlation between DGI and the phase-variable pglA allele was observed.

FIG. 1.

Genetic map of pglA region in Neisseria and structure of posttranslational modification of N. gonorrhoeae pilin. (A) Genetic map of pglA region in various Neisseria strains (as indicated on left). Open reading frames are represented by unfilled arrows and are named according to the N. meningitidis strain Z2491 genome annotation. The key region defining the phase-variable and non-phase-variable alleles of pglA is indicated in the top right of the figure. G_N indicates that a different number of G residues may be observed in this position in different strains (range, 11 to 17). The positions of the primers are indicated by small black triangles, and their names are adjacent. (B) The predicted structure of the pilin-linked glycan from N. gonorrhoeae with both PglE and PglA expressed. Arrows indicate the linkages created by PglE and PglA.