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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 2000, p. 3960-3966, Vol. 38, No. 11
Departamento de Microbiologia, Imunologia e
Parasitologia da Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São
Paulo, SP,1 and Departamento de
Microbiologia do Instituto de Ciências Biológicas da
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte,
MG,2 Brazil
Received 31 May 2000/Returned for modification 29 July
2000/Accepted 20 August 2000
The gp43 glycoprotein is an immune-dominant antigen in patients
with paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM). It is protective against murine PCM
and is a putative virulence factor. The gp43 gene of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis B-339 is located in a
1,329-bp DNA fragment that includes two exons, a 78-bp intron, and a
leader peptide-coding region of 105 bp. Polymorphism in gp43 has been suggested by the occurrence, in the same isolate or among different fungal samples, of isoforms with distinct isoelectric points. In the
present study we aligned and compared with a consensus sequence the
gp43 precursor genes of 17 P. brasiliensis isolates after
sequencing two PCR products from each fungal sample. The genotypic
types detected showed 1 to 4 or 14 to 15 informative substitution
sites, preferentially localized between 578 and 1166 bp. Some
nucleotide differences within individual isolates (noninformative sites) resulted in a second isoelectric point for the deduced protein.
The most polymorphic sequences were also phylogenetically distant from
the others and encoded basic gp43 isoforms. The three isolates in this
group were from patients with chronic PCM, and their DNA restriction
patterns were distinct in Southern blots. The nucleotides encoding the
inner core of the murine T-cell-protective epitope of gp43 were
conserved, offering hope for the development of a universal vaccine.
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Polymorphism in the Gene Coding for the
Immunodominant Antigen gp43 from the Pathogenic Fungus
Paracoccidioides brasiliensis
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Disciplina de
Biologia Celular, UNIFESP, Rua Botucatu, 862, oitavo andar, São
Paulo, SP, 04023-062, Brazil. Phone: 55-11-5084-2991. Fax:
55-11-5571-5877. E-mail: rosana{at}ecb.epm.br.
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