PROTEIN SHIFT AND ANTIGENIC VARIATION IN THE S-LAYER OF CAMPYLOBACTER-FETUS SUBSP VENEREALIS DURING BOVINE INFECTION ACCOMPANIED BY GENOMIC REARRANGEMENT OF SAPA HOMOLOGS

Campylobacter fetus subsp. venerealis isolated from a case of human vaginosis was inoculated into the uterus of a C. fetus-negative heifer. Isolates obtained weekly from the vaginal mucus exhibited variations in high-molecular-mass-protein profiles from that of the original inoculum, which had a dominant 110-kDa S layer protein, Immunoblots of the weekly isolates with monoclonal antibody probes against the 110-kDa S-layer protein and other C. fetus S-layer proteins demonstrated antigenic shifts, Genomic digests of the isolates probed with a 75-mer oligonucleotide of the conserved sapA region also indicated that antigenic variation of the S-layer is accompanied by DNA rearrangement.