{"doi":"10.1093/genetics/117.3.391","title":"Effects of <i>recA</i> Mutations on Pilus Antigenic Variation and Phase Transitions in <i>Neisseria gonorrhoeae</i>","abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title>\n               <jats:p>Intragenic recombination between the single complete pilin gene (expression locus) and multiple, distinct, partial pilin gene copies (silent, storage loci) is thought to account for the generation of pilus antigenic diversity and piliation phase (on-off) changes exhibited by Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The mechanisms operating in the genomic rearrangements associated with these forms of pilus variation were investigated through the study of isogenic strains of gonococci bearing either wild-type or altered recA alleles. Examination of the rates of pilus phase variation and the genetic basis for changes in piliation status displayed by these strains show that recA mediated homologous recombination is required for these high frequency events and confirm that the nonpiliated state results from mutations in the expressed pilin gene. In a strain that is deficient in recA mediated homologous recombination, pilus phase variation occurs at a 100-1000-fold reduced rate and results predominantly from one class of spontaneous frameshift mutations within the pilin structural gene.</jats:p>","journal":"Genetics","year":1987,"id":24457,"datarank":10.5487067974959,"base_score":5.337538079701318,"endowment":5.337538079701318,"self_citation_contribution":0.8006307119551977,"citation_network_contribution":9.748076085540703,"self_endowment_contribution":0.8006307119551977,"citer_contribution":9.748076085540703,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":207,"citer_count":189,"citers_with_citation_signal":176,"citers_with_endowment":176,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":146686,"name":"Emil C Gotschlich","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":146689,"name":"Ken Robbins","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":146691,"name":"Sven Bergström","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":146692,"name":"John Swanson","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":146683,"name":"Michael Koomey","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"base_score":5.337538079701318,"endowment":5.337538079701318,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"2891588","pmcid":"PMC1203215","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W1933226978","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"NIAID NIH HHS","grant_id":"AI10615","title":null},{"funder_name":"NIAID NIH HHS","grant_id":"AI19469","title":null}],"total_grants":2,"fwci":7.5527,"citation_percentile":0.97940751,"influential_citations":20,"citation_trend":[{"year":2012,"count":3},{"year":2013,"count":7},{"year":2014,"count":8},{"year":2015,"count":7},{"year":2016,"count":5},{"year":2017,"count":1},{"year":2018,"count":4},{"year":2019,"count":5},{"year":2020,"count":3},{"year":2021,"count":1},{"year":2022,"count":2},{"year":2023,"count":1},{"year":2024,"count":1},{"year":2025,"count":1},{"year":2026,"count":1}],"oa_status":"bronze","license":"https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://academic.oup.com/genetics/article-pdf/117/3/391/34454327/genetics0391.pdf","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://academic.oup.com/genetics/article-pdf/117/3/391/34454327/genetics0391.pdf","host_type":"BRONZE"},{"url":"https://academic.oup.com/genetics/article-pdf/117/3/391/34454327/genetics0391.pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"http://academic.oup.com/genetics/article-pdf/117/3/391/34454327/genetics0391.pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1093/genetics/117.3.391","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2891588","host_type":"repository"}],"fields_of_study":["Bacterial Infections and Vaccines","Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research","Biochemical and Structural Characterization","Medicine","Biology"],"mesh_terms":["Alleles","Amino Acid Sequence","Antigens, Bacterial","Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins","Base Sequence","Genes","Genes, Bacterial","Molecular Sequence Data","Mutation","Neisseria gonorrhoeae","Fimbriae, Bacterial","Rec A Recombinases","Genetic Variation","Fimbriae Proteins"],"keywords":["Pilin","Pilus","Biology","Phase variation","Homologous recombination","Genetics","Antigenic variation","Neisseria gonorrhoeae","Gene","Locus (genetics)","Recombination","Gene conversion","Allele","Virulence"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Life in Land"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-06-07T22:27:01.273697Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}