GENES ASSOCIATED WITH THE MENINGOCOCCAL CAPSULE COMPLEX ARE ALSO FOUND IN NEISSERIA-GONORRHOEAE

A homolog of the meningococcal cps locus region E has been identified in Neisseria gonorrhoeae immediately upstream of the gonococcal region D locus. Region E has no detectable function in capsule biosynthesis in Neisseria meningitidis or in lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis in eit her organism. The open reading frame is homologous to proteins of unkn own function in Escherichia coli and Haemophilus influenzae. Further a nalysis of the N. meningitidis cpa cluster has identified a second cop y of region D encoding three additional open reading frames, including homologs of DNA methyltransferases. The organization of the region D and E genes in N. gonorrhoeae and N. meningitidis in relation to the c ps genes provides some insight into the evolutionary origin of encapsu lation in N. meningitidis.