scholarly journals Sequence Diversity of the Bacillus thuringiensis and B. cereus Sensu Lato Flagellin (H Antigen) Protein: Comparison with H Serotype Diversity

2006 ◽  
Vol 72 (7) ◽  
pp. 4653-4662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong Xu ◽  
Jean-Charles Côté

ABSTRACT We set out to analyze the sequence diversity of the Bacillus thuringiensis flagellin (H antigen [Hag]) protein and compare it with H serotype diversity. Some other Bacillus cereus sensu lato species and strains were added for comparison. The internal sequences of the flagellin (hag) alleles from 80 Bacillus thuringiensis strains and 16 strains from the B. cereus sensu lato group were amplified and cloned, and their nucleotide sequences were determined and translated into amino acids. The flagellin allele nucleotide sequences for 10 additional strains were retrieved from GenBank for a total of 106 Bacillus species and strains used in this study. These included 82 B. thuringiensis strains from 67 H serotypes, 5 B. cereus strains, 3 Bacillus anthracis strains, 3 Bacillus mycoides strains, 11 Bacillus weihenstephanensis strains, 1 Bacillus halodurans strain, and 1 Bacillus subtilis strain. The first 111 and the last 66 amino acids were conserved. They were referred to as the C1 and C2 regions, respectively. The central region, however, was highly variable and is referred to as the V region. Two bootstrapped neighbor-joining trees were generated: a first one from the alignment of the translated amino acid sequences of the amplified internal sequences of the hag alleles and a second one from the alignment of the V region amino acid sequences, respectively. Of the eight clusters revealed in the tree inferred from the entire C1-V-C2 region amino acid sequences, seven were present in corresponding clusters in the tree inferred from the V region amino acid sequences. With regard to B. thuringiensis, in most cases, different serovars had different flagellin amino acid sequences, as might have been expected. Surprisingly, however, some different B. thuringiensis serovars shared identical flagellin amino acid sequences. Likewise, serovars from the same H serotypes were most often found clustered together, with exceptions. Indeed, some serovars from the same H serotype carried flagellins with sufficiently different amino acid sequences as to be located on distant clusters. Species-wise, B. halodurans, B. subtilis, and B. anthracis formed specific branches, whereas the other four species, all in the B. cereus sensu lato group, B. mycoides, B. weihenstephanensis, B. cereus, and B. thuringiensis, did not form four specific clusters as might have been expected. Rather, strains from any of these four species were placed side by side with strains from the other species. In the B. cereus sensu lato group, B. anthracis excepted, the distribution of strains was not species specific.

2008 ◽  
Vol 74 (17) ◽  
pp. 5524-5532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong Xu ◽  
Jean-Charles Côté

ABSTRACT In Bacillus thuringiensis, the hag gene encodes flagellin, the protein responsible for eliciting the immunological reaction in H serotyping. Specific flagellin amino acid sequences have been correlated to specific B. thuringiensis H serotypes, H1 to H67. Ten H serotypes, however, contain three or more antigenic subfactors, labeled a, b, c, d, or e, and have been subdivided into 23 serovars. In the present study, we set out to analyze the sequence diversity of flagellins among serovars from the same H serotypes. We studied the hag genes in 39 B. thuringiensis strains representing the 23 serovars from the 10 H serotypes mentioned above. A serovar and a biovar from an 11th H serotype were also included. The hag genes were amplified and cloned and their nucleotide sequences were determined and translated into amino acid sequences, or the sequences were retrieved directly from GenBank when available. Strains of the H3 serotype contained two or three copies of the fla gene, an ortholog of the hag gene. Strains of the H6 serotype contained three copies. Strains of all other H serotypes each contained a single copy of the hag gene. Alignments of amino acid sequences from all copies in all strains of the H3 serotype revealed short signature sequences, GGAG and SGG, GPDPDDAVKNLT, and DITTTK, that appeared to be specific to the H3c, H3d, and H3e antigenic subfactors, respectively. Similar short signature sequences, GDIT, AFIK, TSAGKA, and SAPSKG, were revealed for H8b, H8c, H20b, and H20c, respectively. Amino acid sequences in the flagellin central variable region were highly conserved among serovars of the H3, H5, H11, and H20 serotypes and much more divergent among serovars of the H4, H10, H18, H24, and H28 serotypes. Two bootstrapped neighbor-joining trees were respectively generated from the alignments of the amino acid sequences translated from all copies of the hag genes in the B. thuringiensis strains of the H3 and H6 serotypes. Sequence identities and relationships were revealed. A third bootstrapped neighbor-joining tree was generated, this one from the alignment of the flagellin amino acid sequences from all the B. thuringiensis strains in the study. Eight clusters, I to VIII, were revealed. Although most clusters contained strains and serovars from the same H serotype, clusters VII and VIII contained serovars from different H serotypes.


1968 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Oliver ◽  
Anne Stockell Hartree

The cystine-containing peptides of horse growth hormone were isolated and their amino acid sequences determined. Four unique half-cystine residues occur in two peptides, one containing 11 and the other, at the C-terminus of the protein, 15 amino acids. These sequences are compared with published data on growth hormones from other species.


1969 ◽  
Vol 24 (7) ◽  
pp. 870-877 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Jauregui-Adell ◽  
I. Hindennach ◽  
H. G. Wittmann

The sequence of amino acids within the coat protein of the strain Holmes rib grass of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) has been determined. In this communication the amino acid compositions of the coat protein and of all tryptic peptides are reported. Furthermore the experimental details are given for the elucidation of the amino acid sequences within the first three tryptic peptides, containing 61 amino acids.It has been found that the strain Holmes rib grass differs very extensively in the primary structure from the other TMV strains whose sequences are known. It differs from each of the other strains in more than 50% of the amino acid positions and it contains two amino acids less per protein subunit than the other TMV strains.


1969 ◽  
Vol 24 (7) ◽  
pp. 877-885 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. G. Wittmann ◽  
I. Hindennach ◽  
B. Wittmann-Liebold

Experimental data for determining a) the amino acid sequences of eight tryptic peptides containing 95 amino acids and b) the order of the tryptic peptides are given. Combining the data of this and of a previous paper the complete amino acid sequence of the coat protein of the TMV strain Holmes rib grass (HRG) is established (Fig. 5). It is compared with three other TMV strains the sequences of which have been determined before (Fig. 6).Differences and similarities between the sequences of the four TMV strains are discussed. HRG has a deletion of two amino acids and it is the most distantly related of the four TMV strains. When the sequence of HRG is compared to that of any of the other strains it turns out that in each case more than 50% of the 156 positions contain different amino acids (Fig. 7).The number of positions with the same amino acid in all strains and mutants so far studied is 30 per cent. These positions are not randomly distributed but clustered mainly in two regions. This finding probably reflects the restriction of amino acid exchanges by the spatial structure of the viral rod.


2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuki Fujii ◽  
Shiho Tanaka ◽  
Manami Otsuki ◽  
Yasushi Hoshino ◽  
Chinatsu Morimoto ◽  
...  

Characterizing the binding mechanism of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) Cry toxin to the cadherin receptor is indispensable to understanding the specific insecticidal activity of this toxin. To this end, we constructed 30 loop mutants by randomly inserting four serial amino acids covering all four receptor binding loops (loops α8, 1, 2 and 3) and analysed their binding affinities for Bombyx mori cadherin receptors via Biacore. High binding affinities were confirmed for all 30 mutants containing loop sequences that differed from those of wild-type. Insecticidal activities were confirmed in at least one mutant from loops 1, 2 and 3, suggesting that there is no critical amino acid sequence for the binding of the four loops to BtR175. When two mutations at different loops were integrated into one molecule, no reduction in binding affinity was observed compared with wild-type sequences. Based on these results, we discussed the binding mechanism of Cry toxin to cadherin protein.


2000 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 1352-1358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Wang ◽  
Koji Yokoyama ◽  
Makoto Miyaji ◽  
Kazuko Nishimura

Nucleotide sequences of 426 bp from the mitochondrial (mt) cytochrome b genes of six anamorph species and two species of Neosartorya teleomophs of Aspergillussection Fumigati were determined. These sequences were used to build nucleotide- and amino acid-based trees for phylogenetic analysis. Thirteen strains of A. fumigatus including 10 clinical isolates of A. fumigatus, 1 type culture ofA. fumigatus var. fumigatus, 1 type culture ofA. fumigatus var. ellipticus, and 1 strain ofA. fumigatus var. albus, had the same nucleotide sequences. One strain of A. fumisynnematus, two strains labeled A. neoellipticus, two strains of A. viridinutans, and one strain of A. duricaulis had distinct nucleotide and amino acid sequences. Two strains of A. brevipes were divided into two types. One produced a 1,500-bp fragment that included an intron. The nucleotide sequences of its two exons were similar to those of the A. fumigatus, and the derived amino acid sequence was the same as that for A. fumigatus. The other produced a 426-bp fragment and had the same nucleotide and amino acid sequences as A. unilateralis. Neosartorya fischeri var. fischeri and N. stramenia had nucleotide sequences that differed from that ofA. fumigatus. These species possessed their own characteristic nucleotide sequences that differed from each other. In comparisons of homologous sequences from four other pathogenic species of Aspergillus, regions specific to sectionFumigati were found. The mt cytochrome b gene analysis was valuable for the identification, classification, and phylogenetic analysis of isolates of section Fumigati.


1976 ◽  
Vol 157 (2) ◽  
pp. 449-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
J C Jaton

The amino acid sequence of the V (variable) region of the heavy (H) chain of rabbit antibody BS-1, raised against type III pneumococcal vaccine, is reported. Together with the sequence data of the V region of the light (L) chain previously determined [Jaton (1974a) Biochem. J. 141, 1-13], the present work completes the analysis of the V domain of the homogeneous antibody BS-1. The V domains (VL + VH regions) of this antibody are compared with those of two other anti-(type III) pneumococcal antibodies BS-5 and K-25 [Jaton (1975) Biochem. J. 147, 235-247]. Except for the second hypervariable section of the L chains, these antibodies have very different sequences in the hypervariable segments of the V domains. Within the third hypervariable region of the H chain, each antibody has a different length: BS-1 is three amino acids shorter than K-25 and two amino acids shorter than BS-5. When the sequences in that section are aligned for maximal homology, only two residues, glycine-97 and leucine-101, are common to the three antibodies. On the basis of the amino acid sequences of these three anti-pneumococcal antibodies, the results do not support the concept of a simple correlation between primary structure in the hypervariable sections (known to determine the shape of the combining site) and antigen-binding specificity.


1987 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Sumi ◽  
Y Nakamura ◽  
M Sakai ◽  
M Muramatsu ◽  
N Aoki

The complete amino acid sequence of α2-plasmin inhibitor (α2PI) was determined by cDNA cloning. A Agt 10 cDNA library was prepared from poly(A)+mRNA isolated from cultured human liver cells. The labeled oligonucleotides, corresponding to the reported partial amino acid sequences of α2PI, were used as probes to screen the library. One of the positive clones was subcloned into plasmid pUC8. A 2.2 kilobase cDNA clone thus isolated contains a region coding for a portion of a leader sequence, the mature protein, a stop codon (TGA), a 3' noncoding region (733 nucleotides), and a poly(A)tail (37 nucleotides). The amino acid sequence deduced from the cDNA is composed of 452 amino acids starting with an amino-terminal sequence of Asn-Gln-Glu-Gln and ending with a carboxyl-terminal sequence of Gly-Ser-Pro-Lys. The sequence shows approximately 30% homology with those of other plasma serine protease inhibitors. However, α2PI extends 50-52 amino acids beyond the carboxyl-terminal ends of the other inhibitors. This 50-52 carboxyl-terminal amino acid sequence is therefore specific to α2PI, and contains the sequence that is exactly the same as that of the peptide containing the plasminogen binding site. There are three lysine residues possibly involved in the binding to plasminogen in this region. From the homology with the other inhibitors, the inhibitor's reactive-site peptide bond was suggested to be Met-Ser and the same as that of ai-antitrypsin. The Met residue is located at the 362 position from the amino-terminal end.


2002 ◽  
Vol 184 (22) ◽  
pp. 6146-6154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shinya Ohta ◽  
Ken Tsuchida ◽  
Sunju Choi ◽  
Yasuhiko Sekine ◽  
Yasuyuki Shiga ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Transposases encoded by various transposable DNA elements and retroviral integrases belong to a family of proteins with three conserved acidic amino acids, D, D, and E, constituting the D-D-E motif that represents the active center of the proteins. IS1, one of the smallest transposable elements in bacteria, encodes a transposase which has been thought not to belong to the family of proteins with the D-D-E motif. In this study, we found several IS1 family elements that were widely distributed not only in eubacteria but also in archaebacteria. The alignment of the transposase amino acid sequences from these IS1 family elements showed that out of 14 acidic amino acids present in IS1 transposase, three (D, D, and E) were conserved in corresponding positions in the transposases encoded by all the elements. Comparison of the IS1 transposase with other proteins with the D-D-E motif revealed that the polypeptide segments surrounding each of the three acidic amino acids were similar. Furthermore, the deduced secondary structures of the transposases encoded by IS1 family elements were similar to one another and to those of proteins with the D-D-E motif. These results strongly suggest that IS1 transposase has the D-D-E motif and thus belongs to the family of proteins with the D-D-E motif. In fact, mutant IS1 transposases with an amino acid substitution for each of the three acidic amino acids possibly constituting the D-D-E motif were not able to promote transposition of IS1, supporting this hypothesis. The D-D-E motif identified in IS1 transposase differs from those in the other proteins in that the polypeptide segment between the second D and third E in IS1 transposase is the shortest, 24 amino acids in length. Because of this difference, the presence of the D-D-E motif in IS1 transposase has not been discovered for some time.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 1018
Author(s):  
Hiroaki Yokota

Helicases are nucleic acid-unwinding enzymes that are involved in the maintenance of genome integrity. Several parts of the amino acid sequences of helicases are very similar, and these quite well-conserved amino acid sequences are termed “helicase motifs”. Previous studies by X-ray crystallography and single-molecule measurements have suggested a common underlying mechanism for their function. These studies indicate the role of the helicase motifs in unwinding nucleic acids. In contrast, the sequence and length of the C-terminal amino acids of helicases are highly variable. In this paper, I review past and recent studies that proposed helicase mechanisms and studies that investigated the roles of the C-terminal amino acids on helicase and dimerization activities, primarily on the non-hexermeric Escherichia coli (E. coli) UvrD helicase. Then, I center on my recent study of single-molecule direct visualization of a UvrD mutant lacking the C-terminal 40 amino acids (UvrDΔ40C) used in studies proposing the monomer helicase model. The study demonstrated that multiple UvrDΔ40C molecules jointly participated in DNA unwinding, presumably by forming an oligomer. Thus, the single-molecule observation addressed how the C-terminal amino acids affect the number of helicases bound to DNA, oligomerization, and unwinding activity, which can be applied to other helicases.


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