Rk. Pettit et al., Acid stress upregulated outer membrane proteins in clinical isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, but not most commensal Neisseria, CAN J MICRO, 47(9), 2001, pp. 871-876
Human immune serum recognition of outer membrane components from commensal
and pathogenic Neisseria cultured under neutral and acidic conditions was i
nvestigated. Acid stress caused no detectable alterations in lipooligosacch
aride migration and (or) staining, in outer membrane protein profiles, or i
n immune serum recognition of outer membrane components from Neisseria muco
sa or Neisseria sicca. There was also no difference in the lipoologosacchar
ide electrophoretic pattern of acid- and neutral-grown Neisseria lactamica,
but there were differences in outer membrane protein expression. The outer
membrane protein alterations induced by acid stress in N. lactamica were n
ot the same as those seen in isolates from patients with uncomplicated gono
coccal infection, pelvic inflammatory disease, and disseminated gonococcal
infection. Many differences were detected in the immune serum recognition o
f outer membrane components from acid- and neutral-cultured N. lactamica an
d from the clinical isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and these should be
considered in vaccine design.