Epidemiological evidence for the role of the hemoglobin receptor, hmbR, in meningococcal virulence.
other · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 19476432.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1086/599377 and PMC identifier 2731217.
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Abstract
The distribution of the hemoglobin receptor gene (hmbR) was investigated among disease and carriage Neisseria meningitidis isolates, revealing that the gene was detected at a significantly higher frequency among disease isolates than among carriage isolates. In isolates without hmbR, the locus was occupied by the cassettes exl2 or exl3 or by a "pseudo hmbR" gene, designated exl4. The hmbR locus exhibited characteristics of a pathogenicity island in published genomes of N. meningitidis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Neisseria lactamica sequence type-640. These data are consistent with a role for the hmbR gene in meningococcal disease.
Medical subject headings
- Bacterial Proteins
- Meningococcal Infections
- Neisseria gonorrhoeae
- Neisseria meningitidis
- Receptors, Cell Surface