Cloning, sequencing, expression, and functional studies of a 15,000-molecular-weight Haemophilus somnus antigen similar to Escherichia coli ribosomal protein S9.

Haemophilus somnus is a gram-negative bacterium capable of causing a number of disease syndromes in cattle. This article describes the cloning and characterization of a gene coding for a 15,000-molecular-weight (15K) polypeptide which reacts strongly with antiserum against H. somnus. Analysis of plasmid-encoded polypeptides by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that the corresponding gene is the second in a transcriptional unit. The first gene codes for a protein with a molecular weight of approximately 17,000. Using antiserum against the two recombinant proteins, we could show that the natural proteins are predominantly present in purified ribosomes from H. somnus. The nucleotide sequence of both genes and flanking regions has been determined, and the deduced amino acid sequence of the two polypeptides was used to search for sequence homology in the GenBank data base. The 15K polypeptide showed 89% similarity to the Escherichia coli ribosomal protein S9, and the 17K polypeptide showed 94% similarity to the E. coli ribosomal protein L13. In E. coli, the corresponding genes constitute a bicistronic operon, with the same gene order as that found in H. somnus. A plasmid expressing the 15K protein was found to complement an E. coli rpsI mutation. When a frameshift mutation was introduced into the 15K protein gene, the resulting plasmid failed to complement this rpsI mutation, demonstrating functional homology between the 15K protein and S9 from E. coli. Downstream from the 15K protein gene is located another open reading frame, which could code for a polypeptide with a predicted molecular weight of 24,427. A protein with a similar molecular weight was detected in minicells containing the recombinant clone. This polypeptide is 69% similar to the stringent starvation protein (Ssp) of E. coli.