Weiser J N, Goldberg J B, Pan N, Wilson L, Virji M
Departments of Pediatrics and Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Infect Immun. 1998 Sep;66(9):4263-7. doi: 10.1128/IAI.66.9.4263-4267.1998.
Phosphorylcholine (ChoP) is a component of the teichoic acids of Streptococcus pneumoniae and has been recently identified on the lipopolysaccharide of Haemophilus influenzae, also a major pathogen of the human respiratory tract. Other gram-negative pathogens that frequently infect the human respiratory tract were surveyed for the presence of the ChoP epitope as indicated by binding to monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) recognizing this structure. The ChoP epitope was found on a 43-kDa protein on all clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa examined and on several class I and II pili of Neisseria meningitidis. The specificity of the anti-ChoP MAb was demonstrated by the inhibition of binding in the presence of ChoP but not structural analogs. As in the case of H. influenzae, the expression of this epitope was phase variable on these species. In P. aeruginosa, this epitope was expressed at detectable levels only at lower growth temperatures. Expression of the ChoP epitope on piliated neisseriae displayed phase variation, both linked to pilus expression and independently of fully piliated bacteria.
磷酰胆碱（ChoP）是肺炎链球菌壁磷壁酸的一个组成部分，最近在流感嗜血杆菌的脂多糖上也被发现，流感嗜血杆菌也是人类呼吸道的一种主要病原体。对其他经常感染人类呼吸道的革兰氏阴性病原体进行了调查，以检测是否存在ChoP表位，这通过与识别该结构的单克隆抗体（MAb）结合来指示。在所有检测的铜绿假单胞菌临床分离株的一种43 kDa蛋白上以及脑膜炎奈瑟菌的几种I类和II类菌毛上发现了ChoP表位。抗ChoP MAb的特异性通过在有ChoP但没有结构类似物存在时结合的抑制得以证明。与流感嗜血杆菌的情况一样，该表位在这些菌种上的表达是相变的。在铜绿假单胞菌中，该表位仅在较低生长温度下以可检测水平表达。有菌毛奈瑟菌上ChoP表位的表达呈现相变，既与菌毛表达相关，也独立于完全有菌毛的细菌。
