A BACTERIAL PROTEIN HAS HOMOLOGY WITH HUMAN CHORIONIC-GONADOTROPIN (HCG)

Studies from our laboratory have demonstrated the presence of a 48.5 kD cell wall protein in the bacterium, Xanthomonas maltophilia, which immunologically resembles the beta subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin. Primers were designed from the amino acid sequences of enzymatically cleaved peptide fragments of this protein. These primers were used to obtain PCR amplified products, which were subsequently cloned in a PCR11TA cloning vector, and a 492 base pair nucleotide sequence was obtained with a 164 amino acid open reading frame. When this nucleotide sequence aligned with exon 2 of genes 5 and 6 of the βhCG gene, a 53% homology was observed. The translated protein sequence had a 35% homology with hCG and a 25% homology with human luteinizing hormone. © 1993 Academic Press, Inc.