Brayton K A, Knowles D P, McGuire T C, Palmer G H
Program in Vector Borne Diseases, Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-7040, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001 Mar 27;98(7):4130-5. doi: 10.1073/pnas.071056298.
Ehrlichiae are responsible for important tick-transmitted diseases, including anaplasmosis, the most prevalent tick-borne infection of livestock worldwide, and the emerging human diseases monocytic and granulocytic ehrlichiosis. Antigenic variation of major surface proteins is a key feature of these pathogens that allows persistence in the mammalian host, a requisite for subsequent tick transmission. In Anaplasma marginale pseudogenes for two antigenically variable gene families, msp2 and msp3, appear in concert. These pseudogenes can be recombined into the functional expression site to generate new antigenic variants. Coordinated control of the recombination of these genes would allow these two gene families to act synergistically to evade the host immune response.
埃立克体可引发重要的蜱传疾病，包括无形体病（全球范围内最常见的家畜蜱传感染病）以及新出现的人类疾病单核细胞埃立克体病和粒细胞埃立克体病。主要表面蛋白的抗原变异是这些病原体的一个关键特征，这使得它们能够在哺乳动物宿主体内持续存在，而这是随后通过蜱传播的必要条件。在边缘无形体中，两个抗原可变基因家族（msp2和msp3）的假基因协同出现。这些假基因可重组到功能性表达位点以产生新的抗原变体。对这些基因重组的协同控制将使这两个基因家族协同作用以逃避宿主免疫反应。
