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Changes in the frequency of serogroup B non serotypable (B:NT) meningococci isolated in England and Wales were investigated by T-track fingerprint analysis, DNA nucleotide sequence determination, and serotyping by whole cell ELISA and dot blot assay. Seventy-three per cent of the isolates designated as B:NT by the Meningococcal Reference Unit (MRU) dot blot assay during 1993-4, expressed variants of the serotyping antigen, PorB, that were serotype 4 by whole cell ELISA. T-track fingerprint patterns of these and other 'serotype 4' isolates revealed five distinct porB alleles which were shown by nucleotide sequence determination to encode different peptide sequences. Differential binding of the 'serotype 4' mAbs MN14G21 and 5DC4C8G8 in whole cell ELISA and dot blot assays was the result, (i) of differences in the peptide sequence of predicted surface loop I and (ii) an amino acid deletion in predicted loop VI of the PorB protein.

Type

Journal article

Journal

Epidemiol Infect

Publication Date

08/1998

Volume

121

Pages

95 - 101

Keywords

Amino Acid Sequence, Antigens, Bacterial, Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins, DNA Fingerprinting, DNA, Bacterial, England, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Humans, Meningococcal Infections, Molecular Sequence Data, Neisseria meningitidis, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Porins, Serotyping, Wales