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Query: UMLS:C0023241 (Legionella)
 6,990 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Seventy-nine strains of legionella spp. and 13 non-legionella isolates were tested using a commercial latex agglutination kit. Cross-reactions were observed for all strains of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 12 examined between latex particles coated with rabbit antibodies raised against L. pneumophila serogroup 1 and those coated with rabbit antibodies to serogroups 2-14. Strains of L. pneumophila serogroup 1 did not cross-react with latex particles directed against L. pneumophila serogroups 2-14. This suggests that L. pneumophila serogroup 12 shares common surface antigens with L. pneumophila serogroup 1, and that conversely serogroup 1 isolates do not share major surface antigen determinants with serogroups 2-14. All other isolates tested gave expected results.
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PMID:Legionella pneumophila species identification using a commercial latex agglutination kit: a potential cross-reaction problem with serogroup 12. 148 81

A prominent 19 kDa surface antigen of Legionella pneumophila, cloned in Escherichia coli, was found to be intimately associated with peptidoglycan. The DNA region encoding this antigen was mapped on an 11.9 kb plasmid by means of deletion analysis and transposon mutagenesis. PhoA+ gene fusions, gene-rated by TnphoA insertions into this region, confirmed the presence of a gene encoding a secreted protein. PhoA+ transposon insertions were also associated with loss of the 19 kDa antigen in immunoassays using a monoclonal antibody (mAb1E9) and the replacement of the 19 kDa antigen with larger fusion proteins in immunoblots using Legionella immune serum. A 1540bp PstI fragment carrying the gene was sequenced, and the open reading frame encoding the antigen was identified. The gene encodes a polypeptide 176 amino acid residues long and 18913Da in size. The presence of a signal sequence of 22 amino acids with a consensus sequence for cleavage by signal peptidase II indicates that the antigen is a lipoprotein, and striking similarity with peptidoglycan-associated lipoproteins (PALs) from E. coli (51% amino acid homology) and Haemophilus influenzae (55% homology) is noted. We conclude that the 19kDa antigen of L. pneumophila is the structural equivalent of the PAL found in other Gram-negative species and suggest that its post-translational acylation may explain its potency as an immunogen.
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PMID:Characterization of a Legionella pneumophila gene encoding a lipoprotein antigen. 176 77

In a previous study, a 24-kilodalton (kDa) protein surface antigen of Legionella pneumophila was cloned into Escherichia coli and found to be expressed on the host cell surface. Subsequently, a site-directed mutation in this gene (designated mip) in L. pneumophila was found to impair the capacity of this bacterium to initiate intracellular infection in human macrophages. The work presented here indicates that the antigenic gene product is distinct from the 24- to 29-kDa major outer membrane protein of L. pneumophila. In addition, the antigen was identified as a highly basic protein on two-dimensional nonequilibrium polyacrylamide gels and on two-dimensional monoclonal antibody immunoblots. When the DNA fragment encoding this protein was sequenced, a long open reading frame of 699 base pairs was identified within a region to which antigen expression was previously mapped. mip mRNA isolated from both L. pneumophila and transformed E. coli had the same 5' end, as determined by primer extension analysis, indicating that the same promoter sequences are used in both species. A likely factor-independent transcriptional terminator was found 20 residues downstream of the stop codon, suggesting that mip is encoded on a monocistronic message. The inferred polypeptide began with a possible 20- to 24-residue signal sequence, and, as predicted by two-dimensional electrophoresis, had a molecular weight of 24,868 and was a potent polycation with an estimated pI of 9.8.
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PMID:DNA sequence of mip, a Legionella pneumophila gene associated with macrophage infectivity. 292 52

By crossed immunoelectrophoresis, 85 different antigens were demonstrated in sonicated preparations of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 (Lp1). The precipitin patterns of 82 anodic-migrating antigens were numbered and were designated the Lp1 reference system. Eleven antigens were stable to boiling, and seven of these were shown to be surface antigens. One heat-stable surface antigen (antigen no. 61) was highly reactive with limulus amoebocyte lysates and formed a precipitin resembling lipopolysaccharide. Serum from an isolation confirmed case of Lp1 infection and serogroup-specific rabbit antiserum reacted specifically with antigen no. 61, which was designated the serogroup-specific antigen. Normal human and rabbit sera commonly had antibodies to antigen no. 66 of the Lp1 reference system. This antigen is antigenically related to the "common antigen" of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
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PMID:Crossed immunoelectrophoretic analysis of Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 antigens. 684 Aug 45

Environmental and clinical isolates of Legionella pneumophila obtained from the Pittsburgh Veterans Administration Medical Center were studied for the presence of plasmids and for unique surface antigens. The majority of environmental isolates contained a single 80-megadalton plasmid. After an epidemic of nosocomial Legionnaires disease subsided in the Spring of 1981, plasmid-bearing environmental isolates persisted in the environment. Whereas L. pneumophila could not be reisolated from most sites with plasmidless isolates. During this epidemic the attack rate was highest on wards with plasmidless isolates. All clinical isolates were plasmidless. Strains were serotyped by the indirect immunofluorescence method with serum from a single immunized rat which was used both without absorption and after absorption with various plasmid-bearing and plasmidless isolates. These studies suggested that a plasmid-associated surface antigen was present and that the most common plasmidless environmental serotype was similar to the epidemic clinical serotype.
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PMID:Plasmid and surface antigen markers of endemic and epidemic Legionella pneumophila strains. 711 96

IgG and IgM antibodies to a purified human Pneumocystis carinii surface antigen (gp95) were measured in 694 serum specimens from two different population groups using an EIA technique. In a population of 441 patients with no evidence of immunosuppression, the percentage of persons positive for IgG antibodies to gp95 was significantly lower in the age group 1 to 9 years (30%, 23/77) compared to persons 10 to 19 years old (56%, 49/88). In the age group 1 to 14 years there was a significant correlation between the percentage of persons with IgG antibodies to gp95 and age. In 106 consecutive patients under evaluation due to atypical pneumonia, 76 patients showed no change in the titre of antibodies to Legionella spp. or Mycoplasma pneumoniae in two consecutive serum samples. Three of these 76 patients (4%) demonstrated an increase in the level of IgG antibodies to gp95 in the paired samples. One of these patients had a verified Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, and the two others were elderly men in whom no microbiological diagnosis of the pneumonia was established. Thus, it is concluded that IgG antibodies to gp95 develop in the majority of nonimmunosuppressed persons before the age of 13. Furthermore, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia should be considered in the differential diagnosis in patients suspected of having atypical pneumonia.
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PMID:Antibody response to a major human Pneumocystis carinii surface antigen in patients without evidence of immunosuppression and in patients with suspected atypical pneumonia. 850 Apr 76

The population structure of Legionella pneumophila was studied by using partial RNA polymerase gene (rpoB) and DotA gene (dotA) sequences. Trees inferred from rpoB sequences showed that two subspecies of L. pneumophila, Legionella pneumophila subsp. pneumophila and Legionella pneumophila subsp. fraseri, were clearly separated genetically. In both rpoB and dotA trees, 79 Korean isolates used in this study constituted six clonal populations, four of which (designated subgroups P-I to P-IV) were identified in L. pneumophila subsp. pneumophila and two of which (designated subgroups F-I and F-II) were identified in L. pneumophila subsp. fraseri. Although the relationships among subgroups were not identical, such subgrouping was congruent between the rpoB and dotA trees. Type strains of several serogroups did not belong to any subgroup, presumably because isolates similar to these strains were not present among our local sample of the population. There was evidence that horizontal gene transfer or recombination had occurred within L. pneumophila. Contrary to the phylogeny from rpoB and the taxonomic context, subgroups P-III and P-IV of L. pneumophila subsp. pneumophila proved to be closely related to those of L. pneumophila subsp. fraseri or showed a distinct clustering in the dotA tree. It can be inferred that dotA of subgroups P-III and P-IV has been transferred horizontally from other subspecies. The diverse distribution of serogroup 1 strains through the gene trees suggests that surface antigen-coding genes that determine serogroup can be exchanged. Thus, it can be inferred that genetic recombination has been important in the evolution of L. pneumophila.
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PMID:Population genetic structure of Legionella pneumophila inferred from RNA polymerase gene (rpoB) and DotA gene (dotA) sequences. 1191 43