Molecular cloning and characterization of the structural gene for protein I, the major outer membrane protein of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Protein I (P.I) is the major outer membrane protein of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and serves as a porin. By using oligonucleotide probes derived from the known amino-terminal sequence of the mature protein, we have cloned the gene encoding the P.I of gonococcal strain FA19 in three overlapping fragments and determined the DNA sequence. The gene sequence predicts a protein with characteristics typical of the porins of other Gram-negative bacteria. A clone expressing P.I in Escherichia coli was obtained by removing a portion of the P.I gene promoter and reconstructing the entire P.I gene in a position just downstream from a phage T7 promoter. Expression of P.I was then achieved by introducing this recombinant plasmid into an E. coli strain containing an inducible T7 polymerase gene. The clone produced a protein that was identical in size to native P.I and reacted with anti-P.I monoclonal antibodies. Prolonged expression of the protein apparently was lethal for E. coli, possibly explaining failures to clone an intact P.I gene with its own promoter.