Characterization of the variability of a 75-kDa membrane protein in Mycoplasma hominis

Abstract The gene p75 encoding a 75-kDa surface-exposed membrane protein P75 was cloned and sequenced from Mycoplasma hominis type strain PG21T. To investigate the intraspecies variability, sequences were obtained from an additional two isolates 7488 and 183, and the three sequences were compared. The nucleotide and amino acid differences were not confined to specific regions of the gene/protein, but when comparing the three sequences, differences were present as single site substitutions or small insertions or deletions of nucleotides/amino acids. The intraspecies variability was further investigated by restriction enzyme analysis with two restriction enzymes (AluI and MboII) of PCR products amplified from p75 from 28 M. hominis isolates. On the basis of band patterns produced by the two restriction enzymes, the isolates could be divided into five and six groups. These groups neither matched categories of the M. hominis vaa gene nor the M. hominis p120 gene classes, indicating that the three genes vary by different mechanisms and possibly indicating horizontal gene transfer.