Genetic diversity of flagellins of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

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Abstract
Physical genome analysis of the virulence‐associated fliC locus in 20 Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains by mapping and sequencing revealed groups of heterologous a‐type (1164 bp; 1185 bp) and highly conserved b‐type (1467 bp) flagellin genes. Whereas only two synonymous nucleotide substitutions were detected in eight b‐type fliC sequences, the 12 a‐type sequences exhibited 57 nucleotide substitutions, of which 39 occurred within a variable central region. Although a‐type and b‐type flagellins differ by 35% in their primary structure, they share strong homology in their predicted features, implying that the polymorphic proteins fold into similar structures during polymerization of the flagella.