The Journal of Experimental Medicine
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Published online 27 October 2003 doi:10.1084/jem.20030381
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© Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1007/2003/11/1349 $5.00
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Volume 198, Number 9, 1349-1360

Plasticity of Repetitive DNA Sequences within a Bacterial (Type IV) Secretion System Component

Rahul A. Aras1, Wolfgang Fischer2, Guillermo I. Perez-Perez1, MariaLuisa Crosatti1, Takafumi Ando3, Rainer Haas2 and Martin J. Blaser1

1 Department of Medicine and Department of Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine, and VA Medical Center, New York, NY 10016
2 Max von Pettenkofer-Institut fur Hygiene und Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat, 80336 Munich, Germany
3 First Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, 466-8550 Nagoya, Japan

Address correspondence to Rahul A. Aras, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, P.O. Box 100, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724. Phone: (516) 367-6885; Fax: (516) 367-8435; email: aras{at}cshl.edu

DNA rearrangement permits bacteria to regulate gene content and expression. In Helicobacter pylori, cagY, which contains an extraordinary number of direct DNA repeats, encodes a surface-exposed subunit of a (type IV) bacterial secretory system. Examining potential DNA rearrangements involving the cagY repeats indicated that recombination events invariably yield in-frame open reading frames, producing alternatively expressed genes. In individual hosts, H. pylori cell populations include strains that produce CagY proteins that differ in size, due to the predicted in-frame deletions or duplications, and elicit minimal or no host antibody recognition. Using repetitive DNA, H. pylori rearrangements in a host-exposed subunit of a conserved bacterial secretion system may permit a novel form of antigenic evasion.

Key Words: Helicobacter pylori • antigenic variation • genome plasticity • pathogenicity island • type IV secretion system


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