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Coupled phase-variable expression and epitope masking of selective surface lipoproteins increase surface phenotypic
1Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, Missouri 65212, USA.
Infection and Immunity
|July 12, 2001
Abstract:
A new mechanism expanding mycoplasmal surface diversity is described. Exposure of surface epitopes on a constitutively expressed membrane protein (P56) of Mycoplasma hominis was subject to high-frequency phase variation due to phase-variable expression of the P120 antigen and its selective masking of P56 epitopes. Phase-variable masking may confer previously unrealized adaptive capabilities on mycoplasmas.