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Haemophilus somnus is a facultative intracellular pathogen which causes a wide range of diseases in cattle. To identify putative virulence determinants, a genomic library of H. somnus in Escherichia coli was screened for Congo red binding, a property associated with virulence in pathogenic bacteria, and subsequently with bovine hyperimmune sera raised against H. somnus HS25. A Congo red-binding clone carrying a 1.8-kb DNA insert was found to encode a strongly seroreactive LppB protein with an apparent molecular weight of 40,000. The nucleotide sequence of the entire DNA insert was determined. Two open reading frames coding for polypeptides with calculated molecular weights of 21,893 and 30,721 were identified. The larger open reading frame encoded LppB, while the smaller reading frame encoded a nonseroreactive protein with a relative molecular mass of approximately 18 kDa. The 16 amino-terminal amino acids of the deduced LppB polypeptide showed strong sequence homology to the signal peptide of secreted bacterial proteins, and the sequence Leu-Ala-Ala-Cys at the putative cleavage site corresponds to the consensus cleavage sequence of bacterial lipoproteins. Synthesis of the mature LppB lipoprotein in H. somnus was inhibited by globomycin, a specific inhibitor of signal peptidase II. LppB was localized to the outer membrane of H. somnus.

Lipopeptides are potential vaccine candidates with a built-in adjuvant property. To circumvent the present chemical route of synthesis for lipopeptide-antigen conjugates, the lipoprotein property of the pColE2-P9-encoded lysis protein, CelB, was used to create the bacterial fusion plasmid, pKLY3, to produce lipopeptide-antigen chimeras in Escherichia coli. Plasmid pKLY3 is a derivative of pKK233-2 with the origin of replication of the single-stranded DNA phage, fl. Under control of the promoter, ptrc, is the 5' end of the celB gene coding for a lipoprotein signal peptide and the first five amino acids (aa) (CQANY) of the mature lysis protein. As model systems for the synthesis of small and large lipopeptide-antigens, DNA sequences coding for the P2 peptide and E. coli alkaline phosphatase (PhoA) were fused in frame to the region of celB coding for a lipoprotein signal peptide and CQANY. P2 is a 12-aa peptide including a tyrosine phosphorylation site of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R). Inducible expression of stable lipohexapeptide CQANYV, lipo-CQANY-P2, and lipo-CQANYA-PhoA, was demonstrated. Similar expression was obtained for lipo-CIEGR-P2 and lipo-CIEGRA-PhoA in which IEGR is a cleavage recognition site for the blood coagulation factor, Xa. Like QANY, IEGR is predicted to form a beta-turn structure. The presence of a lipid moiety on the products was confirmed by demonstrating the incorporation of radioactive palmitic acid and inhibition of processing by globomycin. The lipid-modified peptides were also identified by incorporation of radioactive tyrosine, and the nature of the P2 peptide was verified immunologically.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A gene of Haemophilus somnus encoding the major 40,000-molecular-weight antigen (LppA) was cloned on a 2-kb Sau3AI fragment. The nucleotide sequence of the entire DNA insert was determined. One open reading frame, encoding a 247-residue polypeptide with a calculated molecular weight of 27,072, was identified. This reading frame was confirmed by sequencing the fusion joint of two independent IppA::TnphoA gene fusions. The 21 amino-terminal amino acids of the deduced polypeptide showed strong sequence homology to the signal peptide of secreted proteins, and the sequence Leu-Leu-Ala-Ala-Cys at the putative cleavage site is identical to the consensus cleavage sequence of lipoproteins from gram-negative bacteria. The presence of the lipid moiety on the protein was shown by incorporation of radioactive palmitic acid into the natural H. somnus protein. Palmitic acid could also be incorporated into the recombinant protein in Escherichia coli. Synthesis of the mature LppA lipoprotein was inhibited by globomycin, showing that cleavage of the signal peptide is mediated by signal peptidase II in both organisms. By using site-directed mutagenesis, the cysteine residue at the cleavage site was changed to glycine. Radiolabelled palmitate was not incorporated into the mutated protein, showing that lipid modification occurs at the Cys-22 residue.