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Pilin gene phase variation of Moraxella bovis is caused by an inversion of the pilin genes

Abstract:

Moraxella bovis Epp63 can express either of two different pilin proteins, called α and β. We have previously cloned and sequenced the β-pilin gene and now report that DNAs isolated from bacteria expressing α pilin have hybridization patterns consistently different from those of bacteria expressing β pilin. The phase variation between α- and β-pilin gene expression appears to be associated with an inversion of about 2 kilobases of DNA, whose endpoints occur within the coding region of the expressed pilin gene. Comparisons of the β-pilin gene sequence with those of well-studied bacterial inversion systems revealed a stretch of 58% sequence similarity (21 of 36 base pairs) between the left inverted repeat of the Salmonella typhimurium flagellar hin control region and the amino-terminal portion of the β-pilin gene.