Identification of a native Dichelobacter nodosus plasmid and implications for the evolution of the vap regions.

Studies on the role of various virulence factors of the ovine pathogen, Dichelobacter nodosus, have suffered from the absence of a mechanism for the introduction of DNA into this organism. As an initial step in the development of genetic methods, we have identified and cloned a native 10-kb plasmid, pJIR896, from a clinical isolate. This plasmid was found to be a circular form of vap region 1/3 that is found in the reference strain, A198. However, pJIR896 lacked the duplicated region present in the A198 sequence and instead contained a 1.7-kb putative insertion sequence, IS1253, which shared similarity to a number of unusual IS elements. A model is proposed for the evolution of vap region 1/3 which involves the integration of a plasmid, such as pJIR896, and subsequent rearrangements resulting from the deletion or transposition of IS1253.

A multiple site-specific DNA-inversion model for the control of Omp1 phase and antigenic variation in Dichelobacter nodosus.

The molecular cloning and sequence analysis of four structurally variant linked genes (omp1A,B,C,D) that encode the major outer membrane protein of Dichelobacter nodosus strain VCS1001 are described. The isolation of rearranged copies of omp1A and omp1B, and the identification in the 5' regions of all four genes of short cross-over-site sequences that were similar to the Din family of cross-over-site sequences, suggested that site-specific DNA inversion was involved in omp1 rearrangement. Evidence for site-specific inversion of the 497 bp DNA fragment, which was located between the divergently orientated omp1A and omp1B genes, and which contained the promoter and 5' coding sequence of Omp1, was obtained by polymerase chain reaction-mediated amplification of inverted forms of these genes. However, to account for all of the omp1 gene copies cloned in this study, a more widespread inversion phenomenon must be involved in the rearrangement of these genes and a model for multiple site-specific DNA inversions at the omp1 locus is described. In this model the four structurally variant omp1 genes can be assembled from one of four structurally variant C-terminal coding regions and a conserved N-terminal coding region and can be expressed from a single promoter. It is postulated that this genetic capability endows D. nodosus with the ability to switch the antigenic specificity of one of its major surface proteins.