The P1 fragments were expressed in E. coli system and all these fragments were expressed in inclusion bodies. A protocol was developed to 10058-F4 purify these protein fragments to near homogeneity and to obtain

these proteins in large amount. The testing of P1 protein fragments with anti-M. pneumoniae sera and sera of M. pneumoniae infected patients revealed that all these protein fragments were recognized by these sera, thereby suggesting that the immunodominant regions are distributed across buy PF-01367338 the entire length of the protein. These results are in agreement with a number of previous reports that showed the presence of immunodominant regions either in the N-, middle and C-terminal segments of P1 protein [21, 23, 25, 27]. A number of previous reports have shown the presence of immunodominant epitopes usually in the C-terminal of M. pneumoniae P1 protein [21, 23, 36], but few reports also showed immunodominant regions in the middle and extreme N-terminal [25, 27]. A comparative summary of these results is presented in additional figure file 4 [see Additional file 4]. However, our’s is the first

study that systematically scanned the full P1 protein for their immunodominant and cytadherence. Alvocidib Since P1 protein is considered to be the major ligand mediating attachment, we next tested the ability of the antibodies raised against the four P1 fragments for adhesion detection, surface exposure and adhesion inhibition assays to identify the cytadherence regions. Previously, a number of studies have identified a few M. pneumoniae P1 regions involved in cytadherence. Trypsinization of

M. pneumoniae selleck kinase inhibitor P1 protein and ability of various fragments or peptides so generated to block cytadherence provided first evidence for the role of P1 protein in cytadherence [4]. Baseman et al., later showed that the treatment of M. pneumoniae with protease blocked its adherence to tracheal explants which was restored when P1 was re-generated [32]. Role of M. pneumoniae P1 protein in cytadherence was further substantiated by a study where pre-treatment of M. pneumoniae with antiserum directed against the P1 protein blocked its cytadherence to hamster tracheal ring up to 80% [37]. Gerstenecker and Jacobs [11] and Opitz and Jacobs [24], showed the involvement of N-terminal, middle and C-terminal segment of M. pneumoniae (P1) as well as M. genitalium (MgPa) in cytadherence. Although a number of above mentioned studies have highlighted the role of M. pneumoniae P1 protein in cytadherence, however a systematic study spanning the entire length of P1 protein is missing. We performed a systematic analysis of surface exposure and cytadherence region(s) for M. pneumoniae P1 protein fragments spanning the entire length.