Sequence analysis of several M. synoviae strains suggested that MSPA was more antigenically variable than MSPB [6, 10, 11]. Consistently, in isogenically derived M. synoviae clones that have lost their haemadsorbing and/or haemagglutinating

activity, MSPA was no more detectable by polyclonal antisera or monoclonal antibodies, suggesting extensive antigenic variation [12]. The molecular basis underlying the generation of antigenic variants of M. synoviae vlhA genes has been selleck compound elegantly demonstrated in a study conducted by Noormohammedi et al. 2000 [17]. It resides in the ability of a single strain to undergo high frequency site-specific recombination, owing to the availability in the genome sequence of a significant pool of pseudogenes (vlhA-related partial sequences). Recombination between the single complete vlhA gene and one of the multiple pseudogene copies ensures the creation of a new vlhA gene variant. To date, three expressed vlhA gene variants (vlhA1, vlhA4, and vlhA5) find more have been characterized in M. synoviae strain WVU 1853 [17]. These genes are equally sized and show extensive sequence variability in a 400-bp DNA BI2536 segment in the middle of the vlhA sequence, suggesting that the recombination event, though introduced

sequence variations, tended to preserve the overall sequence length and composition. Although it has been concluded that the potential of vlhA genes to vary is considerable, there is no indication as to which extent a vlhA gene could diverge without losing its properties. Previous studies from our laboratory have identified in M. synoviae strain WVU 1853, an immunodominant MEK inhibitor vlhA variant (termed MS2/28.1) [18] whose haemagglutinin region displayed a dramatic sequence shift and was considerably reduced in size, relative to the previously characterized expressed vlhA genes (vlhA1, vlhA4, and vlhA5) [17]. To better evaluate the extent of antigenic variation that could be tolerated by the M. synoviae haemagglutinin, we sought to know whether this highly divergent vlhA member was properly processed and

whether it remained functionally competent. Our results provide evidence that the antigenic repertoire of M. synoviae vlhA genes might be wider than previously perceived. Results Isolation of the MS2/28.1 fragment The complete nucleotide sequence of MS2/28, the λ phage-derived DNA fragment (GenBank accession number MSU66315) harbouring the immuno-reactive MS2/28.1 sequence, has been previously described [18]. It is 2657 bp long and contained two partial ORFs, referred herein to as, MS2/28.1 (5′ end) and MS2/28.2 (3′ end) (GenBank accession numbers ORF G2149016 and ORF G2149017, respectively). MS2/28.1 lacked its N-terminal sequence, whereas the C-terminal region of MS2/28.2 was incomplete. The two partial ORFs shared 71% and 61.