Nucleotide sequences of two fimbrial major subunit genes, pmpA and ucaA, from canine-uropathogenic Proteus mirabilis strains

Abstract

Proteus mirabilis strains were isolated from dogs with urinary tract infection (UTI) and fimbriae were prepared from two strains. The N-terminal amino acid sequences of the major fimbrial subunits were determined and both sequences appeared identical to the N-terminal amino acid sequence of a urinary cell adhesin (UCA) (Wray, S. K., Hull, S. I., Cook, R. G., Barrish, J. & Hull, R. A., 1986, Infect Immun 54, 43-49). The genes of two different major fimbrial subunits were cloned using oligonucleotide probes that were designed on the basis of the N-terminal UCA sequence. Nucleotide sequencing revealed the complete ucaA gene of 540 bp (from strain IVB247) encoding a polypeptide of 180 amino acids, including a 22 amino acid signal sequence peptide, and the pmpA (P. mirabilis P-like pili) gene of 549 bp (from strain IVB219) encoding a polypeptide of 183 amino acids, including a 23 amino acid signal sequence. Hybridization experiments gave clear indications of the presence of both kinds of fimbriae in many UTI-related canine P. mirabilis isolates. However, the presence of these fimbriae could not be demonstrated in P. vulgaris or other Proteus-related species. Database analysis of amino acid sequences of major subunit proteins revealed that the UcaA protein shares about 56% amino acid identity with the F17A and F111A major fimbrial subunits from bovine enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. In turn, the PmpA protein more closely resembled the pyelonephritis-associated pili (Pap)-like major subunit protein from UTI-related E. coli. The evolutionary relationship of UcaA, PmpA and various other fimbrial subunit proteins is presented in a phylogenetic tree.

Pathogenesis of Proteus mirabilis Infection

“…This fimbria was first discovered in a sheared protein preparation from a canine UTI isolate of P. mirabilis , where PMP was found along with UCA (253). PMP fimbriae have also been implicated in both single-species and polymicrobial CAUTI, where pmpG was identified by Tn-Seq (129), and a pmpA mutant was found to be attenuated in a diabetic mouse UTI model (260).…”

Proteus mirabilisand Urinary Tract Infections

“…m irabilis P -like fimbria (PMP) is a prime example of the difficulties encountered when P. mirabilis expresses multiple fimbriae at the same time. PMP was first named in 1995, for a fimbria expressed by P. mirabilis isolated from canine urine (198). However, the authors noted that the PmpA protein sequence had been previously identified in a 1991 paper which determined the N-terminal sequence of MrpA (49, 198).…”

“…PMP was first named in 1995, for a fimbria expressed by P. mirabilis isolated from canine urine (198). However, the authors noted that the PmpA protein sequence had been previously identified in a 1991 paper which determined the N-terminal sequence of MrpA (49, 198). In 1993, the genes which encode MrpA were identified, but the nucleotide sequence encodes a different protein sequence than was initially identified (168).…”

Transcriptional Analysis of the MrpJ Network: Modulation of Diverse Virulence-Associated Genes and Direct Regulation of mrp Fimbrial and flhDC Flagellar Operons in Proteus mirabilis

“…Sequencing of the first P. mirabilis genome in 2008 (8) revealed the presence of 17 potential chaperone-usher fimbriae. To date, biological evidence for the production of seven of these has been collected (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16). Among these, the best studied is the mannose-resistant Proteus-like (MR/P) fimbria, which has been shown to be an important virulence factor that contributes to colonization of the urinary tract in a murine model of infection (17), as well as affecting the localization of bacteria within the bladder (18).…”