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The cell surface of mycobacteria is quite rich in lipids. Glycopeptidolipids, surface-exposed lipids that typify some mycobacterial species, have been associated with a phenotypic switch between rough and smooth colony morphotypes. This conversion in Mycobacterium smegmatis is correlated with the absence/presence of glycopeptidolipids on the cell surface and is due to insertion sequence mobility. Here, we show that the occurrence of a high amount of glycopeptidolipids in the smooth variant leads to lower invasion abilities and lower internalization by macrophages. We further show that the high production of glycopeptidolipids on the cell surface can confer a selective advantage to the smooth variant when grown in vitro. This higher fitness under the laboratory condition might explain the selection of smooth variants in several independent laboratories. The implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Erp (exported repetitive protein), also known as P36, Pirg and Rv3810, is a member of a mycobacteria-specific family of extracellular proteins. In pathogenic species, the erp gene has been described as a virulence factor. The Erp proteins comprise three domains. The N- and C-terminal domains are similar in all mycobacterial species, while the central domain consists of a repeated module that differs considerably between species. Here we show that the Erp protein is loosely attached to the surface and that the carboxy-terminal domain, which displays hydrophobic features, anchors Erp at the surface of the bacillus. The hydrophobic region is not necessary for the complementation of the altered colony morphology of a Mycobacterium smegmatis erp− mutant but proved to be necessary to achieve resistance to detergent at wild-type levels. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

There are two functionally different alleles of the Helicobacter pylori vacA gene, which code for proteins with different in target cell specificity. The alleles (m1 and m2) differ by approximately 50% in amino acid sequence in a 300 amino acid region, the m-region, which determines specificity. An analysis of partial likelihood anomalies in a set of eight Chinese and six Western vacA genes revealed highly significant phylogenetic deviation of a region of the gene including the m-region. Phylogenetic analysis of the conserved regions of these genes failed to reveal any distinction between m1 alleles and m2 alleles, however clear cut geographic variation was observed. In the m-region, the m1 alleles also show separate clustering of Chinese and Western isolates, however the m-region of the m2 alleles has a phylogenetic structure markedly different from the rest of the gene. The data indicate that the m2 m-region was acquired and spread through the population by horizontal transfer of DNA. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]