Molecular Cloning of a Member of the Gene Family That Encodes PMGA, a Hemagglutinin of Mycoplasma Gallisepticum

A hemagglutinin with an M(r) of 67,000 (pMGA) from Mycoplasma gallisepticum S6 was purified by using monoclonal antibody affinity chromatography. Purified pMGA was treated with a number of enzymes, the resultant peptides were purified, and their amino acid sequence was determined by using an Applied Biosystems (model 471A) protein sequencer. The DNA sequence encoding two peptides was used to dictate the sequences of synthetic oligonucleotides which were used to screen a library of EcoRI-cut M. gallisepticum DNA in pUC18. A clone reactive to both probes was isolated and found to contain a recombinant insert of 10 kb. The clone was mapped by using restriction endonucleases and fragments subcloned into pUC18 for DNA sequencing. Analysis of part of the DNA sequence revealed an open reading frame containing 1,941 nucleotides which encoded 647 amino acids. The amino terminus was preceded by a putative leader sequence of 25 amino acids. A promoter region preceding the putative start codon GUG was also located. This gene would encode a mature protein of 67,660 Da. There were a number of differences between the predicted amino acid sequence and that determined by direct peptide sequencing. Also, two tryptic peptides of pMGA were not found in the DNA sequence. This suggested that the cloned gene did not encode pMGA but did encode a homolog (pMGA1.2). Furthermore, downstream of pMGA1.2 was a region of DNA encoding a leader sequence followed by an amino acid sequence with high homology to that encoded by the pMGA1.2 gene. The presence within M. gallisepticum of a family of pMGA genes is inferred from the DNA sequence and Southern transfer data. A possible role for this gene family in immune evasion is discussed.