Use of the neisserial lipoprotein (Lip) for subtyping Neisseria gonorrhoeae

The pathogenic Neisseria species N. meningitidis and N. gonorrhoeae possess an outer membrane lipoprotein, designated Lip, which is present in all strains tested. The predicted protein sequence of Lip consists of a consensus AAEAP amino acid repeat. The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of using the Lip repeat number and sequence for subtyping of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The lip genes of each isolate were amplified by PCR and sequenced to determine the repeat number and sequence. Among the 46 strains we examined, eight different Lip repeat numbers were identified, with lengths of 11 (1 strain), 12 (14 strains), 13 (2 strains), 14 (10 strains), 15 (5 strains), 16 (10 strains), 17 (3 strains), and 20 (1 strain) repeats. Analysis indicated differences in the sequences within the repeats that resulted in amino acid alterations in repeat classes that contained multiple strains. Among the 46 isolates examined, we were able to identify 17 unique Lip subtyping patterns.