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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Generation of Null Mutants to Elucidate the Role of Bacterial Glycosyltransferases in Bacterial Motility
Published on: March 11, 2022
An alternative DNA structure is necessary for pilin antigenic variation in Neisseria gonorrhoeae
Laty A Cahoon1, H Steven Seifert
1Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 303 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
Abstract:
Pathogens can use DNA recombination to promote antigenic variation (Av) of surface structures to avoid immune detection. We identified a cis-acting DNA sequence near the antigenically variable pilin locus of the human pathogen, Neisseria gonorrhoeae. This 16-base pair guanine (G)-rich sequence was required for pilin Av and formed a guanine quartet (G4) structure in vitro. Individual mutations that disrupted the structure also blocked pilin Av and prevented nicks required for recombination from occurring within the G4 region. A compound that binds and stabilizes G4 structures also inhibited pilin Av and prevented nicks from occurring on the G-rich strand. This site constitutes a recombination initiation sequence/structure that directs gene conversion to a specific chromosomal locus.
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