Antigenic variation of gonococcal pilin expression in vivo: analysis of the strain FA1090 pilin repertoire and identification of the pilS gene copiesrecombining with pilE during experimental human infection

Antigenic variation of gonococcal pilin involves a family of variable genes that undergo homologous recombination, resulting in transfer of variant se quences from the pilS silent gene copies into the complete pilE expression locus. Little is known about the specific recombination events that are inv olved in assembling new variant pilin genes in vivo. One approach to unders tanding pilin variation in vivo is to carry out experimental human infectio ns with a gonococcal strain having a fully characterized repertoire of pili n genes, so that the specific recombination events occurring in vivo can be determined. To this end, the authors cloned, sequenced and mapped the pili n genes of strain FA1090 of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. This strain contains one pilE locus and 19 silent gene copies that are arranged in five pilS loci; the pilE locus and four of the pilS loci are clustered in a 35 kb region of the chromosome. The general features of the pilin loci in FA1090 are simil ar to those in strain MS11, in which the mechanism of pilin variation has b een extensively studied. However, none of the silent copy sequences are ide ntical in the two strains, which emphasizes the extreme variability in this gene family among gonococci. Three male volunteers were inoculated with th e same variant of strain FA1090 and developed urethritis within 2-4 d. The pilE gene sequences from a total of 23 colonies cultured from the subjects were analysed, determining which pilS silent copy donated each portion of t he expressed pilE genes. There were 12 different pilin variants, one of whi ch was the original inoculum variant, among the in vivo-expressed pilE gene sequences. The pilE of the inoculum variant was derived entirely from a si ngle silent copy (pilS6c1), However, the pilE genes in the majority of the colonies cultured from the infected subjects were chimeras of sequence deri ved from two or three silent copies. Recombination to generate new pilE seq uences involved exchange of single Variable minicassettes, multiple minicas settes, entire silent gene copies, or (rarely) recombination within a minic assette.