VACUOLATING TOXIN-DEFICIENT H. PYLORI AND RELATED METHODS

Abstract: An isolated nucleic acid encoding the Helicobacter pylori vacuolating toxin, consisting of the nucleotides 101 through 3964 of the nucleotide sequence defined in the Sequence Listing as SEQ ID NO: 1 is provided. An isolated nucleic acid from Helicobacter pylori comprising the nucleotide sequence defined in the Sequence Listing as SEQ ID NO: 3 is provided. Isolated nucleic acids that selectively hybridize with the nucleic acids of the invention are provided. Also provided is a genetically altered mutant strain of H. pylori that does not express a functional vacuolating toxin. Purified proteins encoded by the nucleic acids of the invention are provided. A composition comprising an immunogenic amount of a protein or mutant strain of the invention in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier is provided. A method of immunizing a subject against infection by H. pylori, comprising administering to the subject an immunogenic composition of the invention is provided.

Description: VACUOLATING TOXIN-DEFICIENT H. PYLORI AND RELATED METHODS Government Acknowledgment This work was supported in part by R29 DK45293-02 from the National Institutes of Health, the Medical Research Service of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and R01 CA58834 from the National Cancer Institute. The government has certain rights in the invention. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention This invention relates to a genetically engineered mutant strain of H. pylori that does not express a functional vacuolating toxin, an isolated nucleic acid encoding the Helicobacter pylori vacuolating toxin, nucleic acids that selectively hybridize with the vacuolating toxin encoding nucleic acid and methods of immunizing against and treating H. pylori infection. Background Art Helicobacter pylori is the major causative agent of chronic superficial gastritis in humans, and infection with this organism is an important etiologic factor in the pathogenesis of peptic ulcer disease and possibly gastric cancer (1-3). Although essentially all H. pylori-infected persons develop histologic gastritis (4), the majority of H. pylori-infected persons remain asymptomatic (4), whereas others develop serious complications of infection such as peptic ulceration or adenocarcinoma of the stomach (2,3). Individual H. pylori isolates demonstrate a high level of genotypic diversity (5,6), but nearly all phenotypic characteristics of the organism are conserved. At present, the only phenotypic characteristics known to differ among strains are production of a vacuolating cytotoxin (7,8) and the presence of a 128 kDa cytotoxin- associated protein encoded by cag (8). Persons with peptic ulcer disease are infected with vacuolating cytotoxin-producing strains more frequently than patients with gastritis alone (11,12). Similarly, serologic responses to the 128 kDa cytotoxin-associated CagA protein are associated with the presence of peptic ulceration in H. pylori-infected persons (8,14). Thus, these two related phenotypes are important virulence determinants that can affect the clinical outcome of H. pylori infection. The vacuolating cytotoxin is produced in vi tro by approximately 50% of H. pylori strains (7,8), and is active upon a variety of cell types (7). The inventors have purified the vacuolating cytotoxin from H. pylori 60190, and demonstrated that it migrates as an 87 kDa protein under denaturing and reducing conditions (U.S. Serial No. 07/841,644). It was not possible to isolate or sequence the gene encoding the protein until the protein was purified. Thus, it has not been possible to express large quantities of the vacuolating toxin for use as a diagnostic reagent or in a vaccine. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention provides an isolated nucleic acid encoding the Helicobacter pylori vacuolating toxin, consisting of the nucleotides 101 through 3964 of the nucleotide sequence defined in the Sequence Listing as SEQ ID NO:1. This nucleic acid is an example of double- stranded sequence for the vacA coding region of H. pylori provided by the invention. An isolated nucleic acid from Helicobacter pylori comprising the nucleotide sequence defined in the Sequence Listing as SEQ ID NO:3 is provided. This nucleic acid can be a double-stranded sequence for a vacA (vacuolating toxin) gene of a naturally occurring H. pylori strain that does not produce functional vacuolating toxin { toxr strain). Isolated nucleic acids that selectively hybridize with the nucleic acids of the invention are provided. The selectively hybridizing nucleic acids can be used, for example, as probes or primers for detecting the presence of an organism that has the nucleic acid to which it hybridizes. Such nucleic acids can encode a polypeptide, and, can thereby be placed in a vector and host to produce the toxin, an antigenically similar toxin, an antigenic fragment or a fragment exhibiting toxin function. The present invention also provides a genetically altered mutant strain of H. pylori that does not express a functional vacuolating toxin. The invention provides purified proteins encoded by the nucleic acids of the invention. One example of a protein of the invention is a vacuolating toxin of H. pylori (SEQ ID NO:2), encoded by nucleotides 101 through 3964 of the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID N0:1. The invention provides a composition comprising an immunogenic amount of a protein, genetically altered strain or naturally occurring toxr strain of the invention in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. The protein used in this composition can be a vacuolating toxin protein of the invention. A method of immunizing a subject against infection by H. pylori , comprising administering to the subject an immunogenic composition of the invention is provided. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Nucleic acids The invention provides an isolated nucleic acid encoding the Helicobacter pylori vacuolating toxin, consisting of the nucleotides 101 through 3964 of the nucleotide sequence defined in the Sequence Listing as SEQ ID NO:1. This nucleic acid is an example of double- stranded sequence for the vacA coding region of H. pylori provided by the invention. An "isolated" nucleic acid is one that is separated from other H. pylori genes. Also provided is an isolated nucleic acid of Helicobacter pylori , consisting of the nucleotide sequence defined in the Sequence Listing as SEQ ID NO:1. Thus, the sequence includes a regulatory sequence for the vacA coding region of H. pylori . A Shine-Dalgarno sequence consisting of nucleotides 91-95 of the nucleotide sequence defined in the Sequence Listing as SEQ ID NO:1 is specifically provided. The invention also provides any nucleic acid which encodes the protein defined in SEQ ID NO:1. An isolated nucleic acid from Helicobacter pylori comprising the nucleotide sequence defined in the Sequence Listing as SEQ ID NO:3 is provided. This nucleic acid can be a double-stranded sequence for a vacA (vacuolating toxin) gene of a naturally occurring H. pylori strain that does not produce functional vacuolating toxin ( toxr strain). The nucleic acid of SEQ ID NO: 3 is a double- stranded partial sequence of a vacuolating toxin gene of a ton: strain provided by the invention. The nucleic acid includes part of an open reading frame. The remaining sequence can be readily determined using the cloning and sequencing methods provided in the specification. Isolated nucleic acids that selectively hybridize with the nucleic acids of the invention are provided. The selectively hybridizing nucleic acids can be used, for example, as probes or primers for detecting the presence of an organism that has the nucleic acid to which it hybridizes. Such nucleic acids can encode a polypeptide, and, can thereby be placed in a vector and host to produce the toxin, a functionally similar toxin, an antigenic fragment or a fragment exhibiting toxin function. "Stringent conditions" refers to the washing conditions used in a hybridization protocol. In general, the washing conditions should be as stringent as possible (i.e., a combination of temperature and salt concentration should be chosen so that the denaturation temperature of a hybridized sequence is approximately 5-20°C below the calculated T m of the hybrid under study) . The temperature and salt conditions can be determined empirically in preliminary experiments in which samples of reference DNA immobilized on filters are hybridized to the probe or sequence of interest and then washed under conditions of different stringencies. For example, stringent conditions are exemplified by hybridization at 68°C for 18 h in 6X SSC, followed by multiple washes with 0.1X or 0.5X SSC at 65°C. An isolated nucleic acid that selectively hybridizes with the nucleic acid consisting of the nucleotides 101 through 3964 of the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID N0:1, or the nucleic acid encoding the protein of SEQ ID N0:1, under stringent conditions and has at least 70% sequence complementarity with the segment of the sequence to which it hybridizes is provided. Thus, the nucleic acid can be used as a probe or primer for detecting the presence of an organism that has a gene encoding a functional vacuolating toxin. An isolated nucleic acid that selectively hybridizes with the nucleic acid consisting of the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID N0:1 or the nucleic acid encoding the protein of SEQ ID N0:1, under stringent conditions and has at least 70% sequence complementarity with the segment of the sequence to which it hybridizes is provided. This selectively hybridizing nucleic acid includes one or more of the regulatory sequences located upstream of the vacuolating toxin coding sequence. An isolated nucleic acid that selectively hybridizes with the nucleic acid of SEQ ID NO: 3 under stringent conditions is also provided. Because the nucleic acid of SEQ ID NO:3 is part of an open reading frame, a selectively hybridizing nucleic acid can encode a polypeptide. The selectively hybridizing nucleic acids of the invention can have at least 70%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 97%, 98% and 99% complementarity with the segment of the sequence to which it hybridizes. The nucleic acids can be at least 20, 50, 100, 150, 200, 300, 500, 750, 1000, 2000, 3000 or 4000 nucleotides in length. Thus, the nucleic acid can be an alternative coding sequence for the toxin, or can be used as a probe or primer for detecting the presence of a strain that has a gene encoding a functional vacuolating toxin or a tox strain. If used as primers, the invention provides compositions including at least two nucleic acids which selectively hybridize with different regions so as to amplify a desired region. Depending on the length of the probe or primer, it can range between 70% complementary bases and full complementarity and still hybridize under stringent conditions. For example, for the purpose of diagnosing the presence of a functional vacuolating toxin producing H. pylori strain, the degree of complementarity between the hybridizing nucleic acid (probe or primer) and the sequence to which it hybridizes ( H. pylori DNA from a sample) should be at least enough to exclude hybridization with a naturally occurring tox: strain or genetically altered strain of the present invention. Thus, a nucleic acid that selectively hybridizes with a functional toxin coding sequence will not selectively hybridize under stringent conditions with a nucleic acid for the tox strain, and vice versa. Alternatively, probes or primers can be chosen that will hybridize with both tox + and tox" vacA genes under stringent conditions. The invention provides examples of these nucleic acids of H. pylori , so that the degree of complementarity required to distinguish selectively hybridizing from nonselectively hybridizing nucleic acids under stringent conditions can be clearly determined for each nucleic acid. It should also be clear that a selectively hybridizing nucleic acid will not hybridize with nucleic acids encoding unrelated proteins or proteins from other species. One skilled in the art can readily obtain the nucleic acids of the present invention with routine experimentation to synthesize a full gene as well as shorter nucleotide fragments. For example, techniques for obtaining nucleic acids such as those provided in the Sequence Listing are specifically provided in the application. Furthermore, additional methods are provided in the art that can be utilized without significant modification. Ferretti et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 82:599-603 (1986)) and Wosnick et al. (Gene 76:153-160 (1989)) show routine methods to synthesize a gene of known sequence. More specifically, Ferretti et al. teach the synthesis of a 1057 base pair synthetic bovine rhodopsin gene from synthetic oligonucleotides. The synthesized gene was faithful to the known sequence (first sentence, page 603), demonstrating the reliability of this method of gene synthesis. Additionally, Wosnick et al. teach the synthesis of a maize glutathione-transferase (GST) gene using an efficient, one-step annealing/ligation protocol. This technique also produced a complete synthetic gene with 100% fidelity, which demonstrates the routine nature of this protocol. Proteins The invention provides purified proteins encoded by the nucleic acids of the invention. One example of a protein of the invention is a vacuolating toxin of H. pylori (SEQ ID NO:2), encoded by nucleotides 101 through 3964 of the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1. A purified antigenic protein encoded by a nucleic acid that selectively hybridizes with the nucleic acid consisting of the nucleotides 101 through 3964 of the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID N0:1 under stringent conditions and has at least 70 % complementarity with segment of the sequence to which it hybridizes is provided. Also provided is an antigenic protein encoded by the nucleic acid comprising the nucleotide sequence defined in the Sequence Listing as SEQ ID NO:3. This protein can be expressed in an E. coli expression system or other suitable system as described herein. The antigenic proteins encoded by the selectively hybridizing nucleic acids of the invention will be encoded by a nucleic acid that hybridizes to the nonsense strand of the double-stranded reference nucleic acid. As used in this context, "protein" includes polypeptides and peptides. Thus, protein encoded by the selectively hybridizing nucleic acid will not be an unrelated or irrelevant protein or fragment. An antigenic fragment of a protein of the invention can be isolated from the whole antigen by chemical or mechanical disruption. The purified fragments thus obtained can be tested to determine their antigenicity and specificity by the methods taught herein. An antigenic fragment is typically at least about 8 consecutive amino acids derived from the protein's amino acid sequence and should be unique to a functional or nonfunctional vacuolating toxin of H. pylori. The antigenic fragments of the present proteins can be recombinant proteins obtained by cloning the selectively hybridizing nucleic acids encoding the fragments in. an expression system capable of producing the antigenic fragments of the protein. The nucleic acids that encode an antigenic protein can be determined by placing the nucleic acid in a host and expressing the its product. The products can then be screened against polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies raised against the intact native protein or against antibodies (that specifically react with H. pylori ) present in the blood of infected subjects. Once the amino acid sequence of the antigenic protein is provided, it is also possible to synthesize, using standard peptide synthesis techniques, peptide fragments chosen to correspond to toxic or immunoreactive regions of the antigen and to modify these fragments by inclusion, deletion or modification of particular amino acids residues in the derived sequences. Thus, synthesis or purification of an extremely large number of peptides derived from the proteins is possible. The amino acid sequences of the present proteins can contain an immunoreactive portion of antigenic protein attached to sequences designed to provide for some additional property, such as solubility. The antigenic proteins and fragments can include amino acid sequences in which one or more amino acids have been substituted with another amino acid to provide for some additional property, such as to remove/add amino acids capable of disulfide bonding, to increase its bio-longevity, alter enzymatic activity, or improve immunogenicity. In any case, the polypeptide must posses the relevant bioactive property, such as immunoreactivity, immunogenicity, toxicity etc. Mutant Organism The present invention also provides a genetically engineered mutant strain of H. pylori that does not express a functional vacuolating toxin. This mutant strain is distinguishable from the naturally occurring tox H. pylori strains, for example, by the presence of a nucleic acid not found in native H. pylori . In one example, the mutant H. pylori strain is obtained by making an insertion mutation in the coding sequence for the vacuolating toxin as described in the Examples. Since the present invention provides the nucleic acid encoding the toxin, other methods of mutating the coding sequence of the toxin can be used to obtain other mutant strains as contemplated herein. Examples of the mutant H. pylori strains of the present invention are designated 84-183:v1 and 60190:v1. Additional mutants can be prepared, for example, by substitution mutation in the coding sequence for the vacuolating toxin or deleting a portion of the vacuolating toxin gene so as to render the gene non-functional or produced in such low amounts that the organism is non- infectious, non-toxic, less toxic or attenuated to a statistically significant degree. Furthermore, by providing the nucleotide sequence for the nucleic acid encoding the toxin, the present invention permits the making of specific point mutations having the desired effect. The deletion, insertion or substitution mutations can be made in either or both the regulatory or coding region to prevent transcription or to render the transcribed product nonfunctional. For example, the Shine Dalgarno sequence shown in SEQ ID N0:1 can be disrupted so that translation of the toxin protein is prevented or reduced to a statistically significant degree. One such approach to the construction of a deletion or insertion mutant is via the Donnenberg method (Donnenberg and Kaper Infect . Imm n . 4310-4317, 1991). A deletion in the toxin gene is created by deleting a restriction fragment and religating the clone. This mutant is cloned into suicide vector pILI.57Q. The sacB gene of Bacillus subtilis is also cloned into the suicide vector to provide a conditionally lethal phenotype. This construct is transformed into H. pylori by electroporation, and transformants selected by spectinomycin resistance. The merodiploid strain which contains the suicide vector and the mutated version of the toxin gene are exposed to sucrose to directly select for organisms that have undergone a second recombination, resulting in the loss of the vector. These and other well known methods of making mutations can be applied to the nucleic acids provided herein to obtain other desired mutations. Vaccines The invention provides a composition comprising an immunogenic amount of a protein of the invention in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. The protein used in this composition can be a vacuolating toxin protein of the invention. A method of immunizing a subject against infection by H. pylori , comprising administering to the subject an immunogenic composition of the invention is provided. A composition comprising an immunogenic amount of an antigenic protein encoded by a selectively hybridizing nucleic acid of the invention in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier is provided. The nucleic acids encoding these proteins will naturally be the nucleic acids that hybridize with the non-coding or antisense strands set forth in the Sequence Listing. A method of immunizing a subject against infection by H. pylori , comprising administering to the subject the composition is also provided. A composition comprising an immunogenic amount of the antigenic protein encoded by the nucleic acid comprising the nucleotide sequence defined in the Sequence Listing as SEQ ID NO:3 can be in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. A method of immunizing a subject against infection by H. pylori , comprising administering to the subject the composition. The antigenic proteins, naturally occurring tox or genetically altered mutant H. pylori of this invention can be used in the construction of a vaccine comprising an immunogenic amount of the antigen, tox or mutant and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. The vaccine can be the entire antigen, the antigen on an intact H. pylori (in the case of the tox strains), E. coli or other strain, or an epitope (fragment) specific to the antigen. The vaccine can also be potentially cross-reactive with antibodies to other antigens. A method of immunizing a subject against infection by H. pylori , comprising administering to the subject the an immunogenic amount of the genetically altered H. pylori , proteins or toX strain is provided. Determining Immunogenicity The purified proteins and polypeptide fragments of the invention can be tested to determine their immunogenicity and specificity. Briefly, various concentrations of a putative immunogen fragment are prepared and administered to an animal and the immunological response (e.g., the production of antibodies or cell mediated immunity) of an animal to each concentration is determined. The amounts of antigen administered depend on the subject, e.g. a human or a guinea pig, the condition of the subject, the size of the subject, etc. Thereafter, an animal so inoculated with the antigen can be exposed to the bacterium to test the potential vaccine effect of the specific immunogenic protein or fragment. The specificity of a putative immunogenic fragment can be ascertained by testing sera, other fluids or lymphocytes from the inoculated animal for cross reactivity with other closely related bacteria. Once immunogenicity is established as described above, immunogenic amounts of the antigen can be determined using standard procedures. Briefly, various concentrations of a putative specific immunoreactive epitope are prepared, administered to an animal and the extent of immunological response (e.g., the production of antibodies) of an animal to each concentration is measured. The immunizing dosage can then be verified by challenging the animal with the bacterium and observing the protective effects of the various amounts of immunogen. Other examples of methods of immunizing animals against H. pylori infection are described in Czinn and Nedrud ( Infection and Immuni ty 59(7) :2359-2363, 1991) and Thomas et al. ( Acta Gastro-Enterologica Belgica, Suppl . 58:54, 1993). The pharmaceutically acceptable carrier in the vaccine of the instant invention can comprise saline or other suitable carriers (Arnon, R. (Ed.) Synthetic Vaccines 1:83-92, CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, Florida, 1987). An adjuvant can also be a part of the carrier of the vaccine, in which case it can be selected by standard criteria based on the antigen used, the mode of administration and the subject (Arnon, R. (Ed.), 1987). Methods of administration can be by oral or sublingual means, or by injection, depending on the particular vaccine used and the subject to whom it is administered. It can be appreciated from the above that the vaccine can be used as a prophylactic or a therapeutic modality. For example, method of treating H. pylori infection, comprising administering to the subject the immunogenic amount of the genetically altered H. pylori of the invention is provided. Thus, the invention provides methods of preventing or treating H. pylori infection and the associated diseases by administering the vaccine to a subject. Vectors and Hosts The nucleic acids of the invention can be in a vector suitable for expressing the nucleic acid. The nucleic acid in a vector can be in a host suitable for expressing the nucleic acid. There are numerous E. coli expression vectors known to one of ordinary skill in the art useful for the expression of the antigen. Other microbial hosts suitable for use include bacilli, such as Bacillus subtilus, and other enterobacteriaceae, such as Salmonella, Serratia, and various Pseudomonas species. In these prokaryotic hosts one can also make expression vectors, which will typically contain expression control sequences compatible with the host cell (e.g., an origin of replication). In addition, any number of a variety of well-known promoters will be present, such as the lactose promoter system, a tryptophan (Trp) promoter system, a beta-lactamase promoter system, or a promoter system from phage lambda. The promoters will typically control expression, optionally with an operator sequence, and have ribosome binding site sequences for example, for initiating and completing transcription and translation. If necessary an amino terminal methionine can be provided by insertion of a Met codon 5' and in-frame with the antigen. Also, the carboxy-terminal extension of the antigen can be removed using standard oligonucleotide mutagenesis procedures. Additionally, yeast expression can be used. There are several advantages to yeast expression systems. First, evidence exists that proteins produced in a yeast secretion systems exhibit correct disulfide pairing. Second, post-translational glycosylation is efficiently carried out by yeast secretory systems. The Saccharomyces cerevisiae pre-pro-alpha-factor leader region (encoded by the MFα- 1 gene) is routinely used to direct protein secretion from yeast (Brake et al., 1984). The leader region of pre-pro-alpha-factor contains a signal peptide and a pro-segment which includes a recognition sequence for a yeast protease encoded by the KEX2 gene: this enzyme cleaves the precursor protein on the carboxyl side of a Lys-Arg dipeptide cleavage-signal sequence. The antigen coding sequence can be fused in-frame to the pre- pro-alpha-factor leader region. This construct is then put under the control of a strong transcription promoter, such as the alcohol dehydrogenase I promoter or a glycolytic promoter. The antigen coding sequence is followed by a translation termination codon which is followed by transcription termination signals. Alternatively, the antigen coding sequences can be fused to a second protein coding sequence, such as Sj26 or β- galactosidase, used to facilitate purification of the fusion protein by affinity chromatography. The insertion of protease cleavage sites to separate the components of the fusion protein is applicable to constructs used for expression in yeast. Mammalian cells permit the expression of proteins in an environment that favors important post-translational modifications such as folding and cysteine pairing, addition of complex carbohydrate structures, and secretion of active protein. Vectors useful for the expression of antigen in mammalian cells are characterized by insertion of the antigen coding sequence between a strong viral promoter and a polyadenylation signal. The vectors can contain genes conferring either gentamicin or methotrexate resistance for use as selectable markers. The antigen and immunoreactive fragment coding sequence can be introduced into a Chinese hamster ovary cell line using a methotrexate resistance-encoding vector. Presence of the vector DNA in transformed cells can be confirmed by Southern analysis and production of an RNA corresponding to the antigen coding sequence can be confirmed by Northern analysis. A number of other suitable host cell lines capable of secreting intact human proteins have been developed in the art, and include the CHO cell lines, HeLa cells, myeloma cell lines, Jurkat cells, etc. Expression vectors for these cells can include expression control sequences, such as an origin of replication, a promoter, an enhancer, and necessary information processing sites, such as ribosome binding sites, RNA splice sites, polyadenylation sites, and transcriptional terminator sequences. Preferred expression control sequences are promoters derived from immunoglobulin genes, SV40, Adenovirus, Bovine Papilloma Virus, etc. The vectors containing the DNA segments of interest can be transferred into the host cell by well-known methods, which vary depending on the type of cellular host. For example, calcium chloride transfection is commonly utilized for prokaryotic cells, whereas calcium phosphate treatment or electroporation may be used for other cellular hosts. Alternative vectors for the expression of antigen in mammalian cells, those similar to those developed for the expression of human gamma-interferon, tissue plasminogen activator, clotting Factor VIII, hepatitis B virus surface antigen, protease Nexinl, and eosinophil major basic protein, can be employed. Further, the vector can include CMV promoter sequences and a polyadenylation signal available for expression of inserted DNAs in mammalian cells (such as C0S7). Polynucleotides encoding a variant polypeptide may include sequences that facilitate transcription (expression sequences) and translation of the coding sequences such that the encoded polypeptide product is produced. Construction of such polynucleotides is well known in the art. For example, such polynucleotides can include a promoter, a transcription termination site (polyadenylation site in eukaryotic expression hosts), a ribosome binding site, and, optionally, an enhancer for use in eukaryotic expression hosts, and, optionally, sequences necessary for replication of a vector. The DNA sequences can be expressed in hosts after the sequences have been operably linked to, i.e., positioned to ensure the functioning of, an expression control sequence. These expression vectors are typically replicable in the host organisms either as episomes or as an integral part of the host chromosomal DNA. Commonly, expression vectors can contain selection markers, e.g., tetracycline resistance or hygromycin resistance, to permit detection and/or selection of those cells transformed with the desired DNA sequences (see, e.g., U.S. Patent 4,704,362). Nucleic Acid Detection (Diagnosis) Methods The presence of the vacuolating toxin, an H. pylori expressing a functional toxin, a naturally occurring tox H. pylori or the present genetically altered mutant can be determined by detecting the presence of a nucleic acid specific for the toxin, toxin fragment, tox or mutated toxin gene. The specificity of these sequences for the wild-type, tox-, and mutated genes can be determined by conducting a computerized comparison with known sequences, catalogued in GenBank, a computerized database, using the computer programs Word Search or FASTA of the Genetics Computer Group (Madison, WI), which search the catalogued nucleotide sequences for similarities to the gene in question. The nucleic acid specific for the H. pylori strain or protein of interest can be detected using the selectively hybridizing nucleic acids of the invention. More particularly, nucleic acid amplification techniques, such as polymerase chain reaction or ligase chain reaction are utilized. Alternatively, the nucleic acid is detected utilizing direct hybridization or by utilizing a restriction fragment length polymorphism. For example, the present invention provides a method of detecting the presence of H. pylori , expressing or not expressing functional vacuolating toxin, comprising utilizing PCR primers which hybridize only with nucleic acids specific for the present toxin related nucleic acids is provided. The presence of amplification indicates the presence of the nucleic acid encoding the antigen. In addition, ascertaining the presence of a nucleotide sequence associated with a restriction endonuclease cleavage site can be used for detection. In another embodiment a restriction fragment of a DNA sample can be sequenced directly using, for example, Sanger ddNTp sequencing or 7- deaza-2'-deoxyguanosine 5'-triphosphate and Taq polymerase and compared to the known unique sequence to detect H. pylori strains. In a further embodiment, the present invention provides a selective amplification method using the selectively hybridizing nucleic acids of the invention. In yet another embodiment the relevant sequences can be detected by directly hybridizing the unique sequence with a probe comprising a selectively hybridizing nucleic acid that has the requisite degree of sequence identity with the sequence to be detected. Furthermore, the nucleotide sequence could be amplified prior to hybridization by the methods described above. The probes may be suitably labeled using, for example, a radio label, enzyme label, fluorescent label, biotin-avidin label and the like for subsequent visualization in the example of Southern blot hybridization procedure. The labeled probe is reacted with a bound sample DNA, e.g., to a nitrocellulose sheet under stringency conditions such that fully complementary sequences or sequences with 70%, 80%, 90% or 95% hybridize. The areas that carry DNA sequences that hybridize to the labeled DNA probe become labeled themselves as a consequence of the reannealing reaction. The areas of the filter that exhibit such labeling may then be visualized, for example, by autoradiography. The stringency of hybridization is usually 5°C to 20°C below the Ti (the irreversible melting temperature of the hybrid formed between the probe and its target sequence) for the given chain length. For 50 to 200mers the recommended hybridization temperature is about 68°C at a washing salt concentration of 0.1X to 0.5X SSC (9). However, the washing temperatures are unique to the sequence under investigation and the purpose of the hybridization, and are optimized for each variant as further described herein. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a technique that amplifies specific DNA sequences with remarkable efficiency. Repeated cycles of denaturation, primer annealing and extension carried out with polymerase, e.g., a heat stable enzyme Taq polymerase, leads to exponential increases in the concentration of desired DNA sequences. Given a knowledge of the nucleotide sequence, synthetic oligonucleotides can be prepared which are complementary to sequences which flank the DNA of interest. Each oligonucleotide is complementary to one of the two strands. The DNA can be denatured at high temperatures (e.g., 95°C) and then reannealed in the presence of a large molar excess of oligonucleotides. The oligonucleotides, oriented with their 3' ends pointing towards each other, hybridize to opposite strands of the target sequence and prime enzymatic extension along the nucleic acid template in the presence of the four deoxyribonucleotide triphosphates. The end product is then denatured again for another cycle. After this three- step cycle has been repeated several times, amplification of a DNA segment by more than one million-fold can be achieved. The resulting DNA may then be directly sequenced in order to locate any genetic variation. Alternatively, it may be possible to prepare oligonucleotides that will only bind to altered DNA, so that PCR will only result in multiplication of the DNA if a mutation is present. Other techniques, such as 3SR, which utilize RNA polymerase to achieve high copy number, can also be used where appropriate. In yet another method, PCR may be followed by restriction endonuclease digestion with subsequent analysis of the resultant products. Induced mutations or naturally occurring variable sequences can result in the gain or loss of specific restriction endonuclease site(s). The gain or loss of a restriction endonuclease recognition site facilitates the detection of the mutation using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis or by detection of the presence or absence of a polymorphic restriction endonuclease site in a PCR product that spans the sequence of interest. For RFLP analysis, DNA is obtained, for example from the blood, gastric specimen, saliva, dental plaque or other bodily fluids of the subject suspected of containing the toxin, or H. pylori expressing functional toxin isolated from subject, and from a subject infected with non-toxin-expressing H. pylori , is digested with a restriction endonuclease, and subsequently separated on the basis of size by agarose gel electrophoresis. The Southern blot technique can then be used to detect, by hybridization with labeled probes, the products of endonuclease digestion. The patterns obtained from the Southern blot can then be compared. Using such an approach, native tox, genetically altered toxin or functional toxin DNA is detected by determining the number of bands detected and comparing this number to the DNA from a different strain. Single strand conformational analysis (SSCA) offers a relatively quick method of detecting sequence changes which may be appropriate in at least some instances. In general, primers for PCR and LCR are usually about 20 bp in length and the preferable range is from 15-25 bp. Better amplification is obtained when both primers are the same length and with roughly the same nucleotide composition. Denaturation of strands usually takes place at 94°C and extension from the primers is usually at 72°C. The annealing temperature varies according to the sequence under investigation. Examples of reaction times are: 20 mins denaturing; 35 cycles of 2 min, 1 min, 1 min for annealing, extension and denaturation; and a final extension step of 5 min. The following examples are intended to illustrate, but not limit, the invention. While the protocols described are typical of those that might be used, other procedures known to those skilled in the art may be alternatively employed. EXAMPLES Bacterial strains and growth conditions. H. pylori 60190 (ATCC 49503), from which the vacuolating cytotoxin was originally purified (15), was used to clone the gene for the vacuolating cytotoxin. H. pylori 84-183 (ATCC 53726) and 87-199 were well- characterized strains previously shown to produce the vacuolating cytotoxin (8,9,16), and strains Tx30a, 86-313, and 87-203 were wild-type strains that fail to produce detectable cytotoxin activity in vitro (7-9,16). Twenty- six additional clinical H. pylori isolates from humans, which have been described previously (9), were also used to assess the conservation of the cytotoxin gene. H. pylori isolates were cultured on trypticase soy agar plates containing 5% sheep blood in a microaerobic atmosphere generated by CampyPak-Plus (BBL, Cockeysville, MD) at 37°C for 48h. Determination of partial amino acid sequences of the vacuolating cytotoxin. The 87 kDa vacuolating cytotoxin from H. pylori 60190 was purified from broth culture supernatant as described previously (15), electrophoresed on a 7% acrylamide gel, and electroblotted onto a ProBlott membrane (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) (15). The 87 kDa protein was then digested with Arg-C protease, fragments were separated chromatographically, and the amino acid sequences of three fragments were determined at the Microsequencing Laboratory of Rockefeller University, New York, NY, as described by Fernandez et al. (17). Genetic techniques and nucleotide sequence analysis. To isolate chromosomal DNA, H. pylori cells were lysed in GES (60% guanidium thiocyanate-0.1 M EDTA- 0.5% Sarkosyl), and the DNA was purified by chloroform extraction and precipitation with isopropanol (18). H. pylori 60190 chromosomal DNA was either sheared by sonication or partially digested with Λlul; genomic libraries then were constructed using λZapII (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA), as described previously (9). The library was screened by plaque hybridization (19), using probes radiolabelled by primer extension with random hexamers (United States Biochemical, Cleveland, Ohio). From purified reactive clones, pBluescript containing the cloned DNA inserts were excised by coinfection with R408 helper phage and subcloned in E. coli XL1-Blue. After plasmid purification, restriction enzyme cleavage maps were generated, and nucleotide sequences were determined on both strands by use of the dideoxy chain termination procedure (20). The final nucleotide sequence of vacA from strain 60190 was determined entirely from cloned genomic DNA rather than PCR fragments. Putative promoter and Shine-Dalgarno sequences were identified by comparison with consensus sequences (21). A search of databases for homologous proteins was accomplished using FastA and FastDB programs, as well as the BLAST network service of the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Cloning of the vacuolating cytotoxin gene of H. pylori 60190. Degenerate oligonucleotide primers [(5' TTYTTYACNACNGTNATHAT 3' ) (SEQ ID NO:17) and (5' TTRTTDATYTCNARRAARTTRTC 3') (SEQ ID N0:18)], constructed on the basis of reverse translations of the N-terminus of the purified 87 kDa protein and an experimentally determined peptide sequence (amino acids residues 35-41 and 198-205, respectively, SEQ ID NOs:1 and 2), were used to PCR-amplify a 0.5 kb band from H. pylori 60190 DNA. This PCR product was excised from a 1% agarose gel, purified using a Qiaex gel extraction kit (Qiagen, Chatsworth, CA), and subcloned in E. coli Nova Blue cells using the pT7 Blue T-vector kit (Novagen, Madison, WI) to yield pCTB1. The nucleotide sequence of pCTBl corresponded to bases 203-714 of SEQ ID N0:1. Screening of the λZapII library with pCTBl yielded two different reactive clones (pCTB2 and pCTB3). The sequence encoding the N-terminus of the cytotoxin was identified in pCTB2, and sequences encoding two experimentally determined peptide sequences were identified in pCTB3. A 0.4 kb product (pCTB4) then was PCR-amplified from H. pylori 60190 DNA using a primer selected from the downstream portion of pCTB3 (5' AAGGCTGGTGTGGATAC 3') (SEQ ID NO:5), and a degenerate primer 5' C NGTDATYTCNACRTTYTT 3') (SEQ ID NO:6) synthesized by reverse translation of an experimentally determined peptide sequence (amino acid residues 617—625, SEQ ID NO:2). Screening of the genomic library of H. pylori 60190 with pCTB4 as a probe resulted in the purification of pCTB5. Screening of the library with the downstream 0.2 kb Xbal fragment of pCTB5 resulted in the isolation of clone pCTB6 and pCTB7. Each of the clones was digested with restriction endonucleases , and nucleotide sequences of relevant portions of each clone were determined. Restriction sites are: EcόRI , Hinάlll , Xbal , Bglll . Compilation of the sequences of multiple clones revealed a 3864 bp ORF, initiated by an ATG codon at position 101 (SEQ ID NO:1), and terminated by a TAA codon at position 3964 (SEQ ID N0:1). An inverted repeat sequence capable of forming a stem-loop structure in the mRNA (ΔG = -13.2 kcal) extended from nucleotides 3975- 3999. The ORF encoded a protein of 1287 amino acid residues, and the calculated molecular mass of the deduced polypeptide was 138,955 daltons. The sequence that encoded the experimentally determined N-terminal amino acid sequence of the 87 kDa cytotoxin was preceded by a 33 amino acid leader sequence, which was characterized by a central hydrophobic area and an Ala-Ala signal peptidase I cleavage site. A potential ribosome binding site (AGGAA) ended 5 bp upstream of the open reading frame. A second ORF, proceeding in the same direction as vach, was identified in pCTB2 upstream from vacK . The stop codon of this 2.5-57 bp ORF was not followed by an inverted repeat sequence. Thus, the vach ORF encoded a polypeptide considerably larger than the mature 87 kDa cytotoxin. In agreement with these findings, Western blotting of H. pylori whole cells with anti-87 kDa serum revealed faint immunoreactive 120-150 kDa bands that were absent from culture supernatant. Analysis of the vacuolating cytotoxin gene product. The translated amino acid sequence and nucleotide sequence of vach and the upstream sequence were compared with sequences in the PIR and Swiss-Prot data bases. The strongest homology was between the 2.567 bp ORF located upstream from vacA and cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase (cysS) from E. coli (40% and 44% identity in two 50 amino acid regions) (26,27) . There were no proteins with significant homology to the vacA gene product. However, several proteins with related C-terminal motifs and similar C- terminal processing were identified. These included IgA proteases from Haemophilus influenzae (28) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (29), Serratia marcescens serine protease (30- 32), the 120 kDa surface-exposed protein of Rickettsia rickettsii (OmpB) (33,34), the 120 kDa surface-layer protein of Rickettsia prowazekii (35), and the AIDA-I adhesin of enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC)(36). Each of these genes encodes a large protein that undergoes C- terminal cleavage of peptides 30-60 kDa in size (28-36). An alternating hydrophobic amino acid motif commencing with phenylalanine at C-terminal position 1 is present in each of these proteins. This C-terminal segment is commonly found in Gram-negative outer membrane proteins (37). These proteins are all characterized by low cysteine content (2 to 4 cysteines per protein), which is probably related to the need to minimize disulfide bond formation during membrane transport (38,39). However, in the translated VacA protein as well as in three related proteases, two cysteine residues are located only 7-11 amino acids apart. Replacement of paired cysteine residues with serines in S. marcescens protease is associated with decreased secretion of the enzyme (31). The corresponding cysteine residues also may play a role in secretion of the H. pylori vach gene product. Analysis of the nucleotide sequence of the vacA ORF suggests that vach encodes a 139 kDa prσtoxiπ that has 3 regions: a 33 amino acid leader sequence, a mature cytotoxin domain (approximately 87 kDa), and a cleaved C- terminal domain (approximately 48 kDa). With the exception of a markedly hydrophobic region at the N- terminus, the mature 87 kDa protein (amino acids 34 to approximately 842) is predominantly hydrophilic, and contains 68% extended sequence (Robson conformation). In contrast to the experimentally determined isoelectric point of 6.1 (15), the predicted isoelectric point of the VacA 87 kDa domain is 9.1; this discrepancy may be attributable to post-translational modification of the protein. The cleaved C-terminal domain is predominantly hydrophilic, has 50% extended sequence, and a predicted isoelectric point of 8.8. In agreement with the experimentally determined amino acid content of the 87 kDa cytotoxin (15), the 87 kDa domain and C-terminal domain are both rich in asparagine (12%). Construction of vacA-negative mutant H. pylori strains. To determine whether the vacA gene is present in a single or multiple copy, genomic DNA from H. pylori 60190 was prepared and Southern hybridizations performed using the inserts in pCTBl or pCTB4 as probes. Both probes hybridized to a single Bglll fragment of approximately 7 kb (not shown) . The pCTB4 insert hybridized to a single 1.7 kb Hiπdlll fragment, and as predicted from mapping studies, the pCTBl insert hybridized to two Hinάlll fragments. For DNA digested with five additional enzymes ( Sad , EcόRV, EcόRI , BamUI , and Kpnl ) , the probes hybridized with single fragments of 2.12 kb. These results suggest that only a single copy of vacA exists in strain 60190, and are consistent with the physical-genetic mapping studies of Bukanov and Berg, which used pCTBl as a vacA probe (40). The vach gene was disrupted to test the hypothesis that this gene encodes the vacuolating cytotoxin. A 1.6 kb fragment encoding the first 1236 bp of the vach ORF plus 393 bp of upstream sequence was PCR-amplified from H. pylori 60190 DNA, and subcloned in pT7Blue to create pCTB8. This plasmid was partially digested with EcόRI , and ligated with a Campy lobacter coli kanamycin ( km) resistance gene (22,23). Plasmid pILL 600 was used as a source of a Campylobacter coli kanamycin ( km) resistance gene (22,23). More specifically, pCTBδ was PCR-amplified from H. pylori 60190 DNA, using primers [(5' GTGAAAGCGAAAAACAAG 3') (SEQ ID NO:11) and (5' AAGAGAAGCTTTAAACCCTCC 3') (SEQ ID NO:12) ]. The km cassette from pILL600 (22,23) was ligated into the unique -EcoRI site of pCTBδ to create pCTB8:^m. We then sought to introduce pCTB8:ic/π, which is unable to replicate in H. pylori , into H. pylori by electroporation.H. pylori 84-183 cells were electroporated with pCTB8:/απ, and kanamycin-resistant transformants were selected as described by Ferrero et al. (24). Natural transformation was accomplished by adding DNA isolated from the H. pylori mutant 84-183:v1 to strain 60190 in the exponential phase of growth. The cells were harvested after 30 minutes and incubated overnight at 37°C on blood agar plates. These cells were replated on blood agar plates containing kanamycin (40 μg/ml) and kanamycin- resistant transformants were selected after 2-3 days of growth. Electroporation of 10 9 cfu of strain 84-183 with 500 ng of pCTB8: cm DNA yielded 200-300 kanamycin-resistant transformants. Southern and colony blot hybridization. To determine whether vach had been disrupted in the transformed strains by allelic exchange, DNA isolated from wild-type strain 84-183 and the kanamycin-resistant H. pylori mutant 84-183:v1 were digested with Hindlll , and Southern hybridization was performed with either the kanamycin gene or pCTBδ as probes. After restriction endonuclease digestions of H. pylori chromosomal DNA, standardized amounts of the fragments were electrophoresed on a 0.7% agarose gel in 0.04 M Tris acetate-2 mM EDTA buffer (pH 8.2). Transfer to nylon membranes, hybridization with radiolabeled probes, and washing were as described previously (9). Colony blot hybridization of H. pylori strains was performed as described previously (9); hybridization was at 68°C for 18 h in 6X SSC, followed by washes with 0.5X SSC at 65°C. DNA from the kanamycin-resistant transformant 84- 183:v1 hybridized to the km probe, whereas DNA from the wild-type strain did not, which indicated that the km gene had been rescued from the non-replicating plasmid. DNA from both the wild-type and mutant strain hybridized with pCTBδ, but 84-183:v1 contained a new 1.8 kb hybridizing fragment and had lost a 0.6 kb fragment. These data indicated that the vach gene had been disrupted by insertion of the km cassette, and that the vector sequence had been lost via a double cross-over event. Natural transformation then was used to generate a vach mutant of H. pylori 60190. Chromosomal DNA (1 μg) from strain 84-183:v1 was incubated with 10 7 cells of strain 60190, and approximately 300 kanamycin-resistant transformants were obtained. Southern hybridization of chromosomal DNA from the mutant 60190:v1 showed the expected km insertion within vach, resulting in allelic replacement. Characterization of vacA-negative Helicobacter pylori mutants. To determine whether disruption of the vacA gene abolished production of the 87 kDa protein, culture supernatants from the wild-type strains 84-183 and 60190 and two isogenic mutants 84-183:v1 and 60190:v1 were immunoblotted with anti—87 kDa serum (15). As expected, supernatants from both wild-type strains contained an immunoreactive 87 kDa band, whereas this band was absent from supernatants of the mutant strains. Concentrated culture supernatants from the two wild-type and two isogenic mutant strains were tested for vacuolating cytotoxin activity in a tissue culture assay. Assessment of vacuolating cytotoxin activity. H. pylori wild-type strains and mutants were cultured in Brucella broth containing 5% fetal bovine serum, and concentrated culture supernatants were prepared by ultrafiltration (8,16). HeLa cells were cultured in Eagle's modified minimal essential medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum and 10 mM ammonium chloride (8,16). Serial dilutions of the H. pylori supernatants, standardized by protein concentration, were incubated with HeLa cells for 18 h, and cell vacuolation then was quantitated by neutral red uptake assay, as described previously (16, 25). Supernatant from the naturally occurring tox strain Tx30a was tested as a control. As expected, supernatant from the reference tox + wild-type strain 60190 contained significantly greater cytotoxin activity than supernatant from tox + wild-type strain 84-183, but no cytotoxin activity was detectable in culture supernatants from the two genetically altered mutant strains. Thus, insertional mutation of the vacA gene resulted in the absence of both 87 kDa protein and vacuolating cytotoxin production. Conservation of the vacuolating cytotoxin gene. To investigate whether vacA sequences are present in H. pylori strains expressing cytotoxin activity in vi tro (tox + ) as well as in wild-type strains that do not express cytotoxin activity (tox"), 15 tox + and 17 tox" strains were studied by colony hybridization with pCTBl as a probe. Each of the H. pylori strains hybridized strongly, whereas there was no hybridization with E. coli XLlBlue. Next, to study potential restriction fragment polymorphisms of the vacA gene, ffi/idlll-digested genomic DNA from 3 tox + (84-183, 60190, or 87-199) and 3 tox" H. pylori strains (87-203, 86-313, or Tx30a) was prepared. Southern hybridization was performed with 3 different vacA probes (the insert in pCTBl , pCTB4, or the 0.7 Xbal fragment of pCTB5). Chromosomal DNA from tox + H. pylori strains were digested with Hindlll, and the restriction fragments were separated on a 0.7% gel. The DNA was then transferred to a nylon membrane and hybridized with the labelled vacA probe under high stringency conditions. Hybridized probes were stripped from the membrane with 0.1 M sodium hydroxide at 70°C for 30 minutes prior to blotting with each new probe. DNA fragments from each of the 6 strains hybridized with the pCTBl probe, and marked restriction fragment length polymorphism was present. pCTB4 hybridized with a 1.7 kb fragment in 5 of the 6 strains, and a 0.7 kb fragment from one strain. Hybridization of ρCTB4 to the 3 tox + strains was considerably more intense than hybridization to the 3 tox" strains. The third probe (0.7 kb Xbal fragment of pCTB5) hybridized to fragments from all 6 strains with equal intensity. These data indicated that vach sequences are present in both tox + and tox" H. pylori strains, but suggested that there is sequence diversity among strains in the middle region of the vacA gene. PCR amplification of vacA fragments from tox + and tox' strains. To investigate further the vacA sequences present in both tox + and tox' H. pylori strains, PCR-amplify fragments from the three different regions of the gene was carried out. DNA from 3 tox + H. pylori strains (84-183, 60190, 87-199) and 3 tox' H. pylori strains (87-203, 86-313, and Tx30a) were used as templates for amplification of vacA gene fragments. PCR reactions were performed for 30 cycles. Conditions were identical for the £hree amplifications (temperatures 94°, 50°, and 72°C). Primers #1 and #2 (5' ATGGAAATACAACAAACACA 3') (SEQ ID NO:13) and (5' CTCCAGAACCCACACGATT 3') (SEQ ID NO:14), selected from the region of vacA encoding the N-terminus of the cytotoxin, amplified a 0.6 kb fragment from each of the H. pylori strains tested. Similarly, primers #5 and #6 (5' TACAAACCTTATTGATTGATAGCC 3') (SEQ ID NO:15) and (5' AAGCTTGATTGATCACTCC 3') (SEQ ID NO:16), selected from the downstream portion of vach, also amplified a 0.6 kb fragment from each of the strains tested. However, primers #3 and #4, selected from the middle of the vach ORF [(5' GATTTGTGAATTTAAAGGTGG 3') (SEQ ID NO:7) and (5' GTCTATATCATTATTAAACATC 3') (SEQ ID NO:8)] amplified a 0.6 kb fragment only from H. pylori 60190, 84-183, and 86-313, under stringent conditions (50°). Under lower stringency annealing conditions (39°C), primers #3 and #4 amplified the expected 0.6 kb fragment from 4 of the H. pylori strains tested, but not from 87-203 or Tx30a. These results are consistent with the Southern hybridization studies, which also suggested the presence of marked sequence variability in the mid-region of the vacA ORF. Sequence analysis of the vach gene from tox' H. pylori 87— 203. To investigate further the potential sequence divergence in vacA genes, PCR-amplification from a tox" strain a fragment of the vach gene that included the region of putative variability was attempted. A 1.5 kb fragment was amplified from tox' strain 87-203 using primers [ (5'TAGTAACAAGACTCATAT 3') (SEQ ID NO:9) and (5' CGTTAGCCGTTTTACTG 3') (SEQ ID NO:TO)], corresponding to bp 1012-1029 and 2533-2549 (SEQ ID N0:1). Sequencing of the subcloned PCR product on both strands indicated the presence of a 2.1541 bp ORF (SEQ ID NO:3). The nucleotide sequence of this ORF was aligned with vacA from tox + strain 60190, and there was 70.7% identity. A comparison between the two deduced amino acid sequences indicated that there was 64.8% identity and 78.2% amino acid homology. Thus, sequence analysis. Southern hybridizations, and PCR analysis all indicated that there are significant differences between the vach sequences of tox + and tox * H. pylori strains. The data presented here indicate that genetic sequences for the vacuolating cytotoxin are present in all H. pylori strains tested, including both tox + and tox" isolates. Throughout this application various publications are referenced by numbers within parentheses. The disclosures of these publications in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference into this application in order to more fully describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains. The full citations for these publications are as follows: REFERENCES 1. Cover, T.L., and Blaser, M.J. (1992) Annu. Rev. Med. 43, 135-145 2. Correa, P. (1992) Cancer Res. 52, 6735-6740 3. Hentschel, E., Brandstatter, G. , Dragosics, B., Hirschl, A.M., Nemec> H., Schutze, K. , Taufer, M., and Wurzer, H. (1993) N. Engl. J. Med. 328, 308-312 4. Dooley, C.P., Cohen, H., Fitzgibbons, P.L., Bauer, M., Appleman, M.D., Perez-Perez, G.I., and Blaser, M.J. (1989) N. Engl. J. Med. 321, 1562-1566 5. Foxall, P.A., Hu, L-T., and Mobley, H.L.T. (1992) J. Clin. Microbiol. 30, 739-741 6. Akopyanz, N., Bukanov, N.O., Westblom, T.R., Kresovich, S., and Berg, D.E. (1992) Nuc. Acids Res. 20, 5137-5142 7. Leunk, R.D. , Johnson, P.T., David, B.C., Kraft, W.G., and Morgan, D.R. (1988) J. Med. Microbiol. 26, 93-99 8. Cover, T.L., Dooley, C.P., and Blaser, M.J. (1990) Infect. Immun. 58, 603-610 9. Tummuru, M.K.R. , Cover, T.L. , and Blaser, M.J. (1993) Infect. Immun. 61, 1799-1809 10. Covacci, A., Censini, S., Bugnoli, M., Tetracca, R. , Burroni, D., Macchia, G., Massone, A., Papini, E., Xiang, Z., Figura, N., and Rappuoli, R. (1993) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90, 5791-5795 11. Figura, N. , Guglielmetti, P., Rossolini, A., Barberi, A., Cusi, G., Mussmanno, R.A. , Russi, M. , and Quaranta, S. (1989) J. Clin. Microbiol. 27, 225-226 12. Goosens, H., Glupczynski, Y., Burette, A., Lambert, J.-P., Vlaes, L., and Butzler, J.-P. (1992) Med. Microbiol. Lett. 1, 153-159 13. Tee, W., Lambert, J.R., Pegorer, M. , Dwyer, B. (1993) Gastroenterology 104, A789 14. Crabtree, J.E., Taylor, J.D., Wyatt, J.I., Heatley, R.V., Shallcross, T.M., Tompkins, D.S., and Rathbone, B.J. (1991) Lancet 338, 332-335 15. Cover, T.L., Blaser, M.J. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 10570-10575 16. Cover, T.L., Cao, P., Lind, CD., Tham, K.T., and Blaser, M.J. (1993) Infect. Immun. 61, 5008-5012 17. Fernandez, J., DeMott, M., Atherton, D., and Mische, S.M. (1992) Anal. Biochem. 201, 255-264 18. Schleif, R.F., and Wensink, P.C. (1981) Practical methods in molecular biology (Springer, New York), p. 98 19. Maniatis, T., Fritsch, E.F., and Sambrook, J. (1989) Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor, NY 20. Sanger, F., Nicklen, S., and Coulson, A.R. (1977) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 71, 1342-1346 21. Hawley, D.K., and McClure, W.R. (1983) Nucleic Acids Res. 11, 2237-2255 22. Labigne-Roussel, A., Courcoux, P., and Tompkins, L. (1988) J. Bacteriol. 170, 1704-1708 23. Suerbaum, S., Josenhans, C, and Labigne, A. (1993) J. Bacteriol. 175, 3278-3288 24. Ferrero, R.L., Cussac, V., Courcoux, P., and Labigne, A. (1992) J. Bacteriol. 174, 4212-4217 25. Cover, T.L., Puryear, W., Perez-Perez, G.I., and Blaser, M.J. (1991) Infect. Immun. 59, 1264-1270 26. Avalos, J., Corrochano, L.M., and Brenner, S. (1991) FEBS Lett. 286, 176-180 27. Hou, Y-M., Shiba, K., Mottes, C , and Schimmel P. (1991) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88, 976-980 28. Poulsen, K., Brandt, J. , Hjorth, J.P., Thogersen, H.C., and Kilian, M. (1989) Infect. Immun. 57, 3097- 3105 29. Pohlner, J., Halter, R. , Beyreuther, K., and Meyer, T.F. (1987) Nature (London) 325, 458-462 30. Yanagida, N., Uozumi, T., and Beppu, T. (1986) J. Bacteriol. 166, 937-944 31. Miyazaki, H., Yanagida, N., Horinouchi, S., and Beppu, T. (1989) J. Bacteriol. 171, 6566-6572 32. Shikata, S., Shimada, K. , Kataoka, H., Horinouchi, S., and Beppu, T. (1992) J. Biochem. 111, 627-632 33. Gilmore, R.D., Jr., Joste, N., and McDonald, G.A. (1989) Mol. Microbiol. 3, 1579-1586 34. Gilmore, R.D., Jr., Cieplak, W., Jr., Policastro, P.F., and Hackstadt, T. (1991) Mol. Microbiol. 5, 2361-2370 35. Carl, M., Dobson, M.E., Ching, W.-M., and Dasch, G.A. (1990) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87, 8237-8241 36. Benz, I, and Schmidt, M.A. (1992) Mol. Microbiol. 6, 1539-1546 37. Struyve, M., Moons, M., and Tommassen, J. (1991) J. Mol. Biol. 218, 141-148 38. Klauser, T., Pohlner, J. , and Meyer, T.F. (1990) EMBO Journal 9, 1991-1999 39. Pollock, M.R., and Richmond, M.H. (1962) Nature 194, 446-449 40. Bukanov, N.O., and Berg, D.E. (1994) Molec. Microbiol. (in press) SEQUENCE LISTING (1) GENERAL INFORMATION: (i) APPLICANT: Cover, Timothy L. Blaser, Martin J. (ii) TITLE OF INVENTION: VACUOLATING TOXIN-DEFICIENT H. PYLORI AND RELATED METHODS (iii) NUMBER OF SEQUENCES: 18 (iv) CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS: (A) ADDRESSEE: NEEDLE & ROSENBERG P.C. (B) STREET: 127 Peachtree Street, Suite 1200 (C) CITY: Atlanta (D) STATE: Georgia (E) COUNTRY: USA (F) ZIP: 30303 (v) COMPUTER READABLE FORM: (A) MEDIUM TYPE: Floppy disk (B) COMPUTER: IBM PC compatible (C) OPERATING SYSTEM: PC-DOS/MS-DOS (D) SOFTWARE: Patentin Release #1.0, Version #1.25 (vi) CURRENT APPLICATION DATA: (A) APPLICATION NUMBER: (B) FILING DATE: (C) CLASSIFICATION: (viii) ATTORNEY/AGENT INFORMATION: (A) NAME: Spratt, Gwendolyn D. (B) REGISTRATION NUMBER: 36,016 (C) REFERENCE/DOCKET NUMBER: 2200.023 (ix) TELECOMMUNICATION INFORMATION: (A) TELEPHONE: 404/688-0770 (B) TELEFAX: 404/688-9880 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID N0:1: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 4042 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: double (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic) (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: CDS (B) LOCATION: 101..3964 (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:l: TATTTATAGC CTTAATCGTA AATGCAACAG AAATTTTCTA GTTTAAAGTC GCACCCTTTG 60 TGCAAAAAAT TGTTTTACAA GAAAAGAAGA AAGGAAAGAA ATG GAA ATA CAA CAA 115 Met Glu He Gin Gin 1 5 ACA CAC CGC AAA ATC AAT CGC CCT CTG GTT TCT CTT GCT HA GTA GGA 163 Thr His Arg Lys He Asn Arg Pro Leu Val Ser Leu Ala Leu Val Gly 10 15 20 GCA TTG GTC AGC ATC ACA CCG CAA CAA AGT CAT GCC GCC TTT TTT ACA 211 Ala Leu Val Ser He Thr Pro Gin Gin Ser His Ala Ala Phe Phe Thr 25 30 35 ACC GTG ATC ATT CCA GCC ATT GTT GGG GGC ATC GCT ACA GGC ACC GCT 259 Thr Val He He Pro Ala He Val Gly Gly He Ala Thr Gly Thr Ala 40 45 50 GTA GGA ACG GTC TCA GGG CTT CTT GGC TGG GGG CTC AAA CAA GCC GAA 307 Val Gly Thr Val Ser Gly Leu Leu Gly Trp Gly Leu Lys Gin Ala Glu 55 60 65 GAA GCC AAT AAA ACC CCA GAT AAA CCC GAT AAA GTT TGG CGC ATT CAA 355 Glu Ala Asn Lys Thr Pro Asp Lys Pro Asp Lys Val Trp Arg He Gin 70 75 80 85 GCA GGA AAA GGC TTT AAT GAA TTC CCT AAC AAG GAA TAC GAC TTA TAC 403 Ala Gly Lys Gly Phe Asn Glu Phe Pro Asn Lys Glu Tyr Asp Leu Tyr 90 95 100 AAA TCC CTT TTA TCC AGT AAG ATT GAT GGA GGT TGG GAT TGG GGG AAT 451 Lys Ser Leu Leu Ser Ser Lys He Asp Gly Gly Trp Asp Trp Gly Asn 105 110 115 GCC GCT ACG CAT TAT TGG ATC AAA GGC GGG CAA TGG AAT AAG CTT GAA 499 Ala Ala Thr His Tyr Trp He Lys Gly Gly Gin Trp Asn Lys Leu Glu 120 125 130 GTG GAT ATG AAA GAC GCT GTA GGG ACT TAT AAA CTC TCA GGG CTA AGG 547 Val Asp Met Lys Asp Ala Val Gly Thr Tyr Lys Leu Ser Gly Leu Arg 135 140 145 AAC TTT ACT GGT GGG GAT TTA GAT GTC AAT ATG CAA AAA GCC ACC TTG 595 Asn Phe Thr Gly Gly Asp Leu Asp Val Asn Met Gin Lys Ala Thr Leu 150 155 160 165 CGC TTG GGC CAA TTC AAT GGC AAT TCT TTC ACA AGC TAT AAG GAT AGT 643 Arg Leu Gly Gin Phe Asn Gly Asn Ser Phe Thr Ser Tyr Lys Asp Ser 170 175 180 GCT GAT CGC ACC ACA AGA GTG GAT TTC AAC GCT AAA AAT ATC TTA ATT 691 Ala Asp Arg Thr Thr Arg Val Asp Phe Asn Ala Lys Asn He Leu He 185 190 195 GAT AAT TTT TTA GAA ATC AAT AAT CGT GTG GGT TCT GGA GCC GGG AGG 739 Asp Asn Phe Leu Glu He Asn Asn Arg Val Gly Ser Gly Ala Gly Arg 200 205 210 AAA GCC AGC TCT ACG GTT TTG ACT TTG CAA GCT TCA GAA GGG ATT ACT 787 Lys Ala Ser Ser Thr Val Leu Thr Leu Gin Ala Ser Glu Gly He Thr 215 220 225 AGC AGT AAA AAT GCT GAA ATT TCT CTT TAT GAT GGC GCT ACG CTC AAT 835 Ser Ser Lys Asn Ala Glu He Ser Leu Tyr Asp Gly Ala Thr Leu Asn 230 235 240 245 TTG GCT TCA AAC AGC GTT AAA TTA AAT GGC AAT GTG TGG ATG GGC CGT 883 Leu Ala Ser Asn Ser Val Lys Leu Asn Gly Asn Val Trp Met Gly Arg 250 255 260 TTG CAA TAC GTG GGA GCG TAT TTG GCC CCT TCA TAC AGC ACG ATA AAC 931 Leu Gin Tyr Val Gly Ala Tyr Leu Ala Pro Ser Tyr Ser Thr He Asn 265 270 275 ACT TCA AAA GTG ACA GGG GAA GTG AAT TTT AAC CAT CTC ACT GTG GGC 979 Thr Ser Lys Val Thr Gly Glu Val Asn Phe Asn His Leu Thr Val Gly 280 285 290 GAT CAC AAC GCC GCT CAA GCA GGC ATT ATC GCT AGT AAC AAG ACT CAT 1027 Asp His Asn Ala Ala Gin Ala Gly He He Ala Ser Asn Lys Thr His 295 300 305 ATT GGC ACA CTG GAT TTG TGG CAA AGC GCG GGG TTA AAT ATC ATT GCC 1075 He Gly Thr Leu Asp Leu Trp Gin Ser Ala Gly Leu Asn He He Ala 310 315 320 325 CCT CCC GAA GGT GGC TAC AAG GAT AAA CCT AAT AAT ACC CCT TCT CAA 1123 Pro Pro Glu Gly Gly Tyr Lys Asp Lys Pro Asn Asn Thr Pro Ser Gin 330 335 340 AGT GGT GCT AAA AAC GAC AAA CAA GAG AGC AGT CAA AAT AAT AGT AAC 1171 Ser Gly Ala Lys Asn Asp Lys Gin Glu Ser Ser Gin Asn Asn Ser Asn 345 350 355 ACT CAG GTC ATT AAC CCA CCC AAT AGC ACG CAA AAA ACA GAA GTT CAA 1219 Thr Gin Val He Asn Pro Pro Asn Ser Thr Gin Lys Thr Glu Val Gin 360 365 370 CCC ACG CAA GTC ATT GAT GGG CCT TTT GCG GGT GGC AAA GAC ACG GTT 1267 Pro Thr Gin Val He Asp Gly Pro Phe Ala Gly Gly Lys Asp Thr Val 375 380 385 GTC AAT ATT GAT CGC ATC AAC ACT AAA GCC GAT GGC ACG ATT AAA GTG 1315 Val Asn He Asp Arg He Asn Thr Lys Ala Asp Gly Thr He Lys Val 390 395 400 405 GGA GGG TTT AAA GCT TCT CTT ACC ACC AAC GCG GCT CAT TTG AAT ATC 1363 Gly Gly Phe Lys Ala Ser Leu Thr Thr Asn Ala Ala His Leu Asn He 410 415 420 GGC AAA GGC GGT GTC AAT CTG TCC AAT CAA GCG AGC GGG CGC ACC CTT 1411 Gly Lys Gly Gly Val Asn Leu Ser Asn Gin Ala Ser Gly Arg Thr Leu 425 430 435 TTA GTG GAA AAT CTA ACC GGG AAT ATC ACC GTT GAT GGG CCT TTA AGA 1459 Leu Val Glu Asn Leu Thr Gly Asn He Thr Val Asp Gly Pro Leu Arg 440 445 450 GTG AAT AAT CAA GTG GGT GGC TAT GCT TTG GCA GGA TCA AGC GCG AAT 1507 Val Asn Asn Gin Val Gly Gly Tyr Ala Leu Ala Gly Ser Ser Ala Asn 455 460 465 TTT GAA TTT AAG GCT GGT GTG GAT ACT AAA AAC GGC ACA GCC ACT TTC 1555 Phe Glu Phe Lys Ala Gly Val Asp Thr Lys Asn Gly Thr Ala Thr Phe 470 475 480 485 AAT AAC GAT ATT AGT CTG GGA AGA TTT GTG AAT TTA AAG GTG GAT GCT 1603 Asn Asn Asp He Ser Leu Gly Arg Phe Val Asn Leu Lys Val Asp Ala 490 495 500 CAT ACA GCT AAT TTT AAA GGT ATT GAT ACG GGT AAT GGT GGT TTC AAC 1651 His Thr Ala Asn Phe Lys Gly He Asp Thr Gly Asn Gly Gly Phe Asn 505 510 515 ACC TTA GAT TTT AGT GGT GTT ACA AAC AAG GTC AAT ATC AAC AAG CTC 1699 Thr Leu Asp Phe Ser Gly Val Thr Asn Lys Val Asn He Asn Lys Leu 520 525 530 ATT ACG GCT TCC ACT AAT GTG GCC GTT AAA AAC TTC AAC ATT AAT GAA 1747 He Thr Ala Ser Thr Asn Val Ala Val Lys Asn Phe Asn He Asn Glu 535 540 545 TTG ATT GTT AAA ACC AAT GGG GTG AGC GTG GGG GAA TAC ACT CAT TTT 1795 Leu He Val Lys Thr Asn Gly Val Ser Val Gly Glu Tyr Thr His Phe 550 555 560 565 AGC GAA GAT ATA GGC AGT CAA TCG CGC ATC AAT ACC GTG CGT TTG GAA 1843 Ser Glu Asp He Gly Ser Gin Ser Arg He Asn Thr Val Arg Leu Glu 570 575 580 ACT GGC ACT AGG TCA ATC TTT TCT GGG GGT GTC AAA TTT AAA AGC GGC 1891 Thr Gly Thr Arg Ser He Phe Ser Gly Gly Val Lys Phe Lys Ser Gly 585 590 595 GAA AAA TTG GTT ATA GAT GAG TTT TAC TAT AGC CCT TGG AAT TAT TTT 1939 Glu Lys Leu Val He Asp Glu Phe Tyr Tyr Ser Pro Trp Asn Tyr Phe 600 605 610 GAC GCT AGG AAT ATT AAA AAT GTT GAA ATC ACC AGA AAA TTC GCT TCT 1987 Asp Ala Arg Asn He Lys Asn Val Glu He Thr Arg Lys Phe Ala Ser 615 620 625 TCA ACC CCA GAA AAC CCT TGG GGC ACA TCA AAA CTC ATG TTT AAT AAT 2035 Ser Thr Pro Glu Asn Pro Trp Gly Thr Ser Lys Leu Met Phe Asn Asn 630 635 640 645 CTA ACC CTG GGT CAA AAT GCG GTC ATG GAC TAT AGT CAA TTT TCA AAT 2083 Leu Thr Leu Gly Gin Asn Ala Val Met Asp Tyr Ser Gin Phe Ser Asn 650 655 660 TTA ACC ATT CAG GGG GAT TTT ATC AAC AAT CAA GGC ACT ATC AAC TAT 2131 Leu Thr He Gin Gly Asp Phe He Asn Asn Gin Gly Thr He Asn Tyr 665 670 675 CTG GTC CGA GGC GGG AAA GTG GCA ACC TTA AAT GTA GGC AAT GCA GCA 2179 Leu Val Arg Gly Gly Lys Val Ala Thr Leu Asn Val Gly Asn Ala Ala 680 685 690 GCT ATG ATG TTT AAT AAT GAT ATA GAC AGC GCG ACC GGA TTT TAC AAA 2227 Ala Met Met Phe Asn Asn Asp He Asp Ser Ala Thr Gly Phe Tyr Lys 695 700 705 CCG CTC ATC AAG ATT AAC AGC GCT CAA GAT CTC ATT AAA AAT ACA GAG 2275 Pro Leu He Lys He Asn Ser Ala Gin Asp Leu He Lys Asn Thr Glu 710 715 720 725 CAT GTT TTA TTG AAA GCG AAA ATC ATT GGT TAT GGT AAT GTT TCT ACA 2323 His Val Leu Leu Lys Ala Lys He He Gly Tyr Gly Asn Val Ser Thr 730 735 740 GGT ACC AAT GGC ATT AGT AAT GTT AAT CTA GAA GAG CAA TTC AAA GAG 2371 Gly Thr Asn Gly He Ser Asn Val Asn Leu Glu Glu Gin Phe Lys Glu 745 750 755 CGC CTA GCC CTT TAT AAC AAC AAT AAC CGC ATG GAT ACT TGT GTG GTG 2419 Arg Leu Ala Leu Tyr Asn Asn Asn Asn Arg Met Asp Thr Cys Val Val 760 765 770 CGA AAT ACT GAT GAC ATT AAA GCA TGC GGT ATG GCT ATC GGC AAT CAA 2467 Arg Asn Thr Asp Asp He Lys Ala Cys Gly Met Ala He Gly Asn Gin 775 780 785 AGC ATG GTG AAC AAC CCT GAC AAT TAC AAG TAT CTT ATC GGT AAA GCA 2515 Ser Met Val Asn Asn Pro Asp Asn Tyr Lys Tyr Leu He Gly Lys Ala 790 795 800 805 TGG AAA AAT ATA GGC ATC AGT AAA ACG GCT AAC GGC TCT AAA ATT TCG 2563 Trp Lys Asn He Gly He Ser Lys Thr Ala Asn Gly Ser Lys He Ser 810 815 820 GTG TAT TAT TTA GGC AAT TCT ACG CCT ACT GAG AAT GGT GGC AAT ACC 2611 Val Tyr Tyr Leu Gly Asn Ser Thr Pro Thr Glu Asn Gly Gly Asn Thr 825 830 835 ACA AAT TTA CCC ACA AAC ACC ACT AAC AAT GCG CGT TTC GCT AGC TAC 2659 Thr Asn Leu Pro Thr Asn Thr Thr Asn Asn Ala Arg Phe Ala Ser Tyr 840 845 850 GCT CTC ATA AAG AAC GCT CCT TTC GCT CAC AGC GCC ACT CCT AAT TTA 2707 Ala Leu He Lys Asn Ala Pro Phe Ala His Ser Ala Thr Pro Asn Leu 855 860 865 GTC GCT ATC AAT CAG CAT GAT TTT GGC ACT ATT GAA AGC GTG TTT GAA 2755 Val Ala He Asn Gin His Asp Phe Gly Thr He Glu Ser Val Phe Glu 870 875 880 885 TTG GCT AAC CGC TCT AAA GAT ATT GAC ACG CTT TAT GCT AAC TCA GGC 2803 Leu Ala Asn Arg Ser Lys Asp He Asp Thr Leu Tyr Ala Asn Ser Gly 890 895 900 GCG CAA GGC AGG GAT CTC TTA CAA ACC TTA TTG ATT GAT AGC CAT GAT 2851 Ala Gin Gly Arg Asp Leu Leu Gin Thr Leu Leu He Asp Ser His Asp 905 910 915 GCG GGT TAT GCC AGA ACC ATG ATT GAT GCT ACA AGC GCT AAT GAA ATC 2899 Ala Gly Tyr Ala Arg Thr Met He Asp Ala Thr Ser Ala Asn Glu He 920 925 930 ACC AAG CAA TTG AAT ACG GCC ACT ACC ACT HA AAC AAC ATA GCC AGT 2947 Thr Lys Gin Leu Asn Thr Ala Thr Thr Thr Leu Asn Asn He Ala Ser 935 940 945 TTA GAG CAT AAG ACA AGC AGT TTA CAA ACT TTG AGC TTG AGT AAT GCG 2995 Leu Glu His Lys Thr Ser Ser Leu Gin Thr Leu Ser Leu Ser Asn Ala 950 955 960 965 ATG ATT TTA AAT TCT CGT TTA GTC AAT CTC TCT AGA AGG CAC ACC AAC 3043 Met He Leu Asn Ser Arg Leu Val Asn Leu Ser Arg Arg His Thr Asn 970 975 980 AAT ATT GAC TCG TTC GCT AAG CGC TTA CAA GCT TTA AAA GAC CAA AGA 3091 Asn He Asp Ser Phe Ala Lys Arg Leu Gin Ala Leu Lys Asp Gin Arg 985 990 995 TTC GCT TCT TTA GAA AGC GCG GCG GAA GTG TTG TAT CAA TTT GCC CCT 3139 Phe Ala Ser Leu Glu Ser Ala Ala Glu Val Leu Tyr Gin Phe Ala Pro 1000 1005 1010 AAA TAT GAA AAA CCT ACC AAT GTT TGG GCT AAC GCT AH GGA GGA GCG 3187 Lys Tyr Glu Lys Pro Thr Asn Val Trp Ala Asn Ala He Gly Gly Ala 1015 1020 1025 AGC TTG AAT AAT GGC GGC AAC GCT TCA TTG TAT GGC ACA AGC GCG GGC 3235 Ser Leu Asn Asn Gly Gly Asn Ala Ser Leu Tyr Gly Thr Ser Ala Gly 1030 1035 1040 1045 GTA GAT GCT TAC CTT AAC GGA CAA GTG GAA GCC ATT GTG GGA GGG TTT 3283 Val Asp Ala Tyr Leu Asn Gly Gin Val Glu Ala He Val Gly Gly Phe 1050 1055 1060 GGA AGC TAT GGT TAT AGC TCT TTT AAT AAT CAA GCG AAC TCT CTT AAC 3331 Gly Ser Tyr Gly Tyr Ser Ser Phe Asn Asn Gin Ala Asn Ser Leu Asn 1065 1070 1075 TCT GGA GCC AAT AAC ACT AAT TTT GGC GTG TAT AGC CGT ATC TTT GCT 3379 Ser Gly Ala Asn Asn Thr Asn Phe Gly Val Tyr Ser Arg He Phe Ala 1080 1085 1090 AAC CAG CAT GAA TTT GAT TTT GAA GCT CAA GGG GCG CTA GGG AGT GAT 3427 Asn Gin His Glu Phe Asp Phe Glu Ala Gin Gly Ala Leu Gly Ser Asp 1095 1100 1105 CAA TCA AGC TTG AAT TTC AAA AGC GCT CTA CTG CGA GAT TTG AAT CAA 3475 Gin Ser Ser Leu Asn Phe Lys Ser Ala Leu Leu Arg Asp Leu Asn Gin 1110 1115 1120 1125 AGC TAT AAT TAC TTA GCC TAT AGC GCT GCA ACA AGA GCG AGC TAT GGT 3523 Ser Tyr Asn Tyr Leu Ala Tyr Ser Ala Ala Thr Arg Ala Ser Tyr Gly 1130 1135 1140 TAT GAC TTT GCG TTT TTC AGG AAC GCT TTG GTG πA AAA CCA AGT GTG 3571 Tyr Asp Phe Ala Phe Phe Arg Asn Ala Leu Val Leu Lys Pro Ser Val 1145 1150 1155 GGC GTG AGC TAT AAC CAT TTA GGT TCA ACC AAC TTT AAA AGC AAC AGC 3619 Gly Val Ser Tyr Asn His Leu Gly Ser Thr Asn Phe Lys Ser Asn Ser 1160 1165 1170 ACT AAT AAA GTG GCT TTG AGT AAT GGC TCT AGC AGT CAG CAT CTA TTC 3667 Thr Asn Lys Val Ala Leu Ser Asn Gly Ser Ser Ser Gin His Leu Phe 1175 1180 1185 AAC GCT AGC GCT AAT GTG GAA GCG CGC TAT TAT TAT GGG GAC ACT TCA 3715 Asn Ala Ser Ala Asn Val Glu Ala Arg Tyr Tyr Tyr Gly Asp Thr Ser 1190 1195 1200 1205 TAC TTC TAT ATG AAC GCT GGA GTT TTA CAA GAA TTT GCT AAC TIT GGT 3763 Tyr Phe Tyr Met Asn Ala Gly Val Leu Gin Glu Phe Ala Asn Phe Gly 1210 1215 1220 TCT AGC AAT GCG GTA TCT πA AAC ACC πT AAA GTG AAT GCT ACT CGC 3811 Ser Ser Asn Ala Val Ser Leu Asn Thr Phe Lys Val Asn Ala Thr Arg 1225 1230 1235 AAC CCT TTA AAT ACC CAT GCC AGA GTG ATG ATG GGT GGG GAA πA AAA 3859 Asn Pro Leu Asn Thr His Ala Arg Val Met Met Gly Gly Glu Leu Lys 1240 1245 1250 TTA GCT AAA GAA GTG πT πG AAT TTG GGC GTT Gπ TAT πG CAC AAT 3907 Leu Ala Lys Glu Val Phe Leu Asn Leu Gly Val Val Tyr Leu His Asn 1255 1260 1265 TTG ATT TCC AAT ATA GGC CAT TTC GCT TCC AAT TTA GGA ATG AGG TAT 3955 Leu He Ser Asn He Gly His Phe Ala Ser Asn Leu Gly Met Arg Tyr 1270 1275 1280 1285 AGT TTC TAATACCATT CTAAAACCCA TGCTCAAAGC ATGGGTTTGA AATCTTACAA 4011 Ser Phe AACATTAACC CCTACAACGC ATACACGACA A 4042 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID N0:2: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 1287 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID N0:2: Met Glu He Gin Gin Thr His Arg Lys He Asn Arg Pro Leu Val Ser 1 5 10 15 Leu Ala Leu Val Gly Ala Leu Val Ser He Thr Pro Gin Gin Ser His 20 25 30 Ala Ala Phe Phe Thr Thr Val He He Pro Ala He Val Gly Gly He 35 40 45 Ala Thr Gly Thr Ala Val Gly Thr Val Ser Gly Leu Leu Gly Trp Gly 50 55 60 Leu Lys Gin Ala Glu Glu Ala Asn Lys Thr Pro Asp Lys Pro Asp Lys 65 70 75 80 Val Trp Arg He Gin Ala Gly Lys Gly Phe Asn Glu Phe Pro Asn Lys 85 90 95 Glu Tyr Asp Leu Tyr Lys Ser Leu Leu Ser Ser Lys He Asp Gly Gly 100 105 110 Trp Asp Trp Gly Asn Ala Ala Thr His Tyr Trp He Lys Gly Gly Gin 115 120 125 Trp Asn Lys Leu Glu Val Asp Met Lys Asp Ala Val Gly Thr Tyr Lys 130 135 140 Leu Ser Gly Leu Arg Asn Phe Thr Gly Gly Asp Leu Asp Val Asn Met 145 150 155 160 Gin Lys Ala Thr Leu Arg Leu Gly Gin Phe Asn Gly Asn Ser Phe Thr 165 170 175 Ser Tyr Lys Asp Ser Ala Asp Arg Thr Thr Arg Val Asp Phe Asn Ala 180 185 190 Lys Asn He Leu He Asp Asn Phe Leu Glu He Asn Asn Arg Val Gly 195 200 205 Ser Gly Ala Gly Arg Lys Ala Ser Ser Thr Val Leu Thr Leu Gin Ala 210 215 220 Ser Glu Gly He Thr Ser Ser Lys Asn Ala Glu He Ser Leu Tyr Asp 225 230 235 240 Gly Ala Thr Leu Asn Leu Ala Ser Asn Ser Val Lys Leu Asn Gly Asn 245 250 255 Val Trp Met Gly Arg Leu Gin Tyr Val Gly Ala Tyr Leu Ala Pro Ser 260 265 270 Tyr Ser Thr He Asn Thr Ser Lys Val Thr Gly Glu Val Asn Phe Asn 275 280 285 His Leu Thr Val Gly Asp His Asn Ala Ala Gin Ala Gly He He Ala 290 295 300 Ser Asn Lys Thr His He Gly Thr Leu Asp Leu Trp Gin Ser Ala Gly 305 310 315 320 Leu Asn He He Ala Pro Pro Glu Gly Gly Tyr Lys Asp Lys Pro Asn 325 330 335 Asn Thr Pro Ser Gin Ser Gly Ala Lys Asn Asp Lys Gin Glu Ser Ser 340 345 350 Gin Asn Asn Ser Asn Thr Gin Val He Asn Pro Pro Asn Ser Thr Gin 355 360 365 Lys Thr Glu Val Gin Pro Thr Gin Val He Asp Gly Pro Phe Ala Gly 370 375 380 Gly Lys Asp Thr Val Val Asn He Asp Arg He Asn Thr Lys Ala Asp 385 390 395 400 Gly Thr He Lys Val Gly Gly Phe Lys Ala Ser Leu Thr Thr Asn Ala 405 410 415 Ala His Leu Asn He Gly Lys Gly Gly Val Asn Leu Ser Asn Gin Ala 420 425 430 Ser Gly Arg Thr Leu Leu Val Glu Asn Leu Thr Gly Asn He Thr Val 435 440 445 Asp Gly Pro Leu Arg Val Asn Asn Gin Val Gly Gly Tyr Ala Leu Ala 450 455 460 Gly Ser Ser Ala Asn Phe Glu Phe Lys Ala Gly Val Asp Thr Lys Asn 465 470 475 480 Gly Thr Ala Thr Phe Asn Asn Asp He Ser Leu Gly Arg Phe Val Asn 485 490 495 Leu Lys Val Asp Ala His Thr Ala Asn Phe Lys Gly He Asp Thr Gly 500 505 510 Asn Gly Gly Phe Asn Thr Leu Asp Phe Ser Gly Val Thr Asn Lys Val 515 520 525 Asn He Asn Lys Leu He Thr Ala Ser Thr Asn Val Ala Val Lys Asn 530 535 540 Phe Asn He Asn Glu Leu He Val Lys Thr Asn Gly Val Ser Val Gly 545 550 555 560 Glu Tyr Thr His Phe Ser Glu Asp He Gly Ser Gin Ser Arg He Asn 565 570 575 Thr Val Arg Leu Glu Thr Gly Thr Arg Ser He Phe Ser Gly Gly Val 580 585 590 Lys Phe Lys Ser Gly Glu Lys Leu Val He Asp Glu Phe Tyr Tyr Ser 595 600 605 Pro Trp Asn Tyr Phe Asp Ala Arg Asn He Lys Asn Val Glu He Thr 610 615 620 Arg Lys Phe Ala Ser Ser Thr Pro Glu Asn Pro Trp Gly Thr Ser Lys 625 630 635 640 Leu Met Phe Asn Asn Leu Thr Leu Gly Gin Asn Ala Val Met Asp Tyr 645 650 655 Ser Gin Phe Ser Asn Leu Thr He Gin Gly Asp Phe He Asn Asn Gin 660 665 670 Gly Thr He Asn Tyr Leu Val Arg Gly Gly Lys Val Ala Thr Leu Asn 675 680 685 Val Gly Asn Ala Ala Ala Met Met Phe Asn Asn Asp He Asp Ser Ala 690 695 700 Thr Gly Phe Tyr Lys Pro Leu He Lys He Asn Ser Ala Gin Asp Leu 705 710 715 720 He Lys Asn Thr Glu His Val Leu Leu Lys Ala Lys He He Gly Tyr 725 730 735 Gly Asn Val Ser Thr Gly Thr Asn Gly He Ser Asn Val Asn Leu Glu 740 745 750 Glu Gin Phe Lys Glu Arg Leu Ala Leu Tyr Asn Asn Asn Asn Arg Met 755 760 765 Asp Thr Cys Val Val Arg Asn Thr Asp Asp He Lys Ala Cys Gly Met 770 775 780 Ala He Gly Asn Gin Ser Met Val Asn Asn Pro Asp Asn Tyr Lys Tyr 785 790 795 800 Leu He Gly Lys Ala Trp Lys Asn He Gly He Ser Lys Thr Ala Asn 805 810 815 Gly Ser Lys He Ser Val Tyr Tyr Leu Gly Asn Ser Thr Pro Thr Glu 820 825 830 Asn Gly Gly Asn Thr Thr Asn Leu Pro Thr Asn Thr Thr Asn Asn Ala 835 840 845 Arg Phe Ala Ser Tyr Ala Leu He Lys Asn Ala Pro Phe Ala His Ser 850 855 860 Ala Thr Pro Asn Leu Val Ala He Asn Gin His Asp Phe Gly Thr He 865 870 875 880 Glu Ser Val Phe Glu Leu Ala Asn Arg Ser Lys Asp He Asp Thr Leu 885 890 895 Tyr Ala Asn Ser Gly Ala Gin Gly Arg Asp Leu Leu Gin Thr Leu Leu 900 905 910 He Asp Ser His Asp Ala Gly Tyr Ala Arg Thr Met He Asp Ala Thr 915 920 925 Ser Ala Asn Glu He Thr Lys Gin Leu Asn Thr Ala Thr Thr Thr Leu 930 935 940 Asn Asn He Ala Ser Leu Glu His Lys Thr Ser Ser Leu Gin Thr Leu 945 950 955 960 Ser Leu Ser Asn Ala Met He Leu Asn Ser Arg Leu Val Asn Leu Ser 965 970 975 Arg Arg His Thr Asn Asn He Asp Ser Phe Ala Lys Arg Leu Gin Ala 980 985 990 Leu Lys Asp Gin Arg Phe Ala Ser Leu Glu Ser Ala Ala Glu Val Leu 995 1000 1005 Tyr Gin Phe Ala Pro Lys Tyr Glu Lys Pro Thr Asn Val Trp Ala Asn 1010 1015 1020 Ala He Gly Gly Ala Ser Leu Asn Asn Gly Gly Asn Ala Ser Leu Tyr 1025 1030 1035 1040 Gly Thr Ser Ala Gly Val Asp Ala Tyr Leu Asn Gly Gin Val Glu Ala 1045 1050 1055 He Val Gly Gly Phe Gly Ser Tyr Gly Tyr Ser Ser Phe Asn Asn Gin 1060 1065 1070 Ala Asn Ser Leu Asn Ser Gly Ala Asn Asn Thr Asn Phe Gly Val Tyr 1075 1080 1085 Ser Arg He Phe Ala Asn Gin His Glu Phe Asp Phe Glu Ala Gin Gly 1090 1095 1100 Ala Leu Gly Ser Asp Gin Ser Ser Leu Asn Phe Lys Ser Ala Leu Leu 1105 1110 1115 1120 Arg Asp Leu Asn Gin Ser Tyr Asn Tyr Leu Ala Tyr Ser Ala Ala Thr 1125 1130 1135 Arg Ala Ser Tyr Gly Tyr Asp Phe Ala Phe Phe Arg Asn Ala Leu Val 1140 1145 1150 Leu Lys Pro Ser Val Gly Val Ser Tyr Asn His Leu Gly Ser Thr Asn 1155 1160 1165 Phe Lys Ser Asn Ser Thr Asn Lys Val Ala Leu Ser Asn Gly Ser Ser 1170 1175 1180 Ser Gin His Leu Phe Asn Ala Ser Ala Asn Val Glu Ala Arg Tyr Tyr 1185 1190 1195 1200 Tyr Gly Asp Thr Ser Tyr Phe Tyr Met Asn Ala Gly Val Leu Gin Glu 1205 1210 1215 Phe Ala Asn Phe Gly Ser Ser Asn Ala Val Ser Leu Asn Thr Phe Lys 1220 1225 1230 Val Asn Ala Thr Arg Asn Pro Leu Asn Thr His Ala Arg Val Met Met 1235 1240 1245 Gly Gly Glu Leu Lys Leu Ala Lys Glu Val Phe Leu Asn Leu Gly Val 1250 1255 1260 Val Tyr Leu His Asn Leu He Ser Asn He Gly His Phe Ala Ser Asn 1265 1270 1275 1280 Leu Gly Met Arg Tyr Ser Phe 1285 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID N0:3: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 1541 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: double (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic) (ix) FEATURE: (A) NAME/KEY: CDS (B) LOCATION: 1..1541 (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID N0:3: GGC GTG CTG GAT TTG TGG CAA AGC GCG GGG πA AGC ATT ATC ACC CCT 48 Gly Val Leu Asp Leu Trp Gin Ser Ala Gly Leu Ser He He Thr Pro 1 5 10 15 CCA GAA GGC GGT TAT GAG AGT AAA ACT AAA GAT AAC CCT TCT CAA AAC 96 Pro Glu Gly Gly Tyr Glu Ser Lys Thr Lys Asp Asn Pro Ser Gin Asn 20 25 30 AGC CCT AAA AAT GAC ACG CAA AAA ACA GAA ATT CAA CCC ACT CAA GTC 144 Ser Pro Lys Asn Asp Thr Gin Lys Thr Glu He Gin Pro Thr Gin Val 35 40 45 ATT GAT GGG CCT TTT GCG GGC GGT AAA GAC ACG GTC GTG AAT ATT TTC 192 He Asp Gly Pro Phe Ala Gly Gly Lys Asp Thr Val Val Asn He Phe 50 55 60 CAC TTA AAC ACT AAA GCC GAT GGC ACG CTT AAA GCG GGA GGG TTT AAA 240 His Leu Asn Thr Lys Ala Asp Gly Thr Leu Lys Ala Gly Gly Phe Lys 65 70 75 80 GCT TCT CTT ACC ACC AAT GCG GCT CAT TTG CAT ATC GGC GAA GGC GGT 288 Ala Ser Leu Thr Thr Asn Ala Ala His Leu His He Gly Glu Gly Gly 85 90 95 GTC AAT CTG TCC AAT CAA GCG AGC GGG CGC TCT πA TTA GTG GAA AAC 336 Val Asn Leu Ser Asn Gin Ala Ser Gly Arg Ser Leu Leu Val Glu Asn 100 105 110 CTA ACC GGG AAT ATC ACC Gπ GAG GGG ACT πA AGA GTG AAT AAT CAA 384 Leu Thr Gly Asn He Thr Val Glu Gly Thr Leu Arg Val Asn Asn G n 115 120 125 GTG GGC GGT GCT GCT GTG GCA GGC TCA AGC GCG AAT TTT GAG πT AAG 432 Val Gly Gly Ala Ala Val Ala Gly Ser Ser Ala Asn Phe Glu Phe Lys 130 135 140 GCT GGC GCT GAT ACC AAC AAC GCC ACA GCC ACT TTT AAT AAC GAT ATC 480 Ala Gly Ala Asp Thr Asn Asn Ala Thr Ala Thr Phe Asn Asn Asp He 145 150 155 160 CAT CTA GGA AAA GCG GTG AAT TTA AGA GTG GAT GCT CAT ACA GCT TAT 528 His Leu Gly Lys Ala Val Asn Leu Arg Val Asp Ala His Thr Ala Tyr 165 170 175 πT AAT GGC AAT ATT TAT CTG GGA AAA TCC ACG AAT πA AGA GTG AAT 576 Phe Asn Gly Asn He Tyr Leu Gly Lys Ser Thr Asn Leu Arg Val Asn 180 185 190 GGC CAT AGC GCT CAT TTT AAA AAT ATT GAT GCC ACA AAG AGC GAT AAC 624 Gly His Ser Ala His Phe Lys Asn He Asp Ala Thr Lys Ser Asp Asn 195 200 205 GGG CTA AAC ACT AGC GCT TTG GAT TTT AGT GGC Gπ ACA GAT AAA GTC 672 Gly Leu Asn Thr Ser Ala Leu Asp Phe Ser Gly Val Thr Asp Lys Val 210 215 220 AAT ATC AAC AAG CTC ACT ACA TCT GCC ACT AAT GTG AAC GTC AAA AAC 720 Asn He Asn Lys Leu Thr Thr Ser Ala Thr Asn Val Asn Val Lys Asn 225 230 235 240 TTT GAC ATT AAG GAA TTA GTG GTT ACA ACC CGT GTT CAG AGT πT GGA 768 Phe Asp He Lys Glu Leu Val Val Thr Thr Arg Val Gin Ser Phe Gly 245 250 255 CAA TAC ACT ATT TTT GGC GAA AAT ATA GGC GAT AAG TCT CGC Aπ GGT 816 Gin Tyr Thr He Phe Gly Glu Asn He Gly Asp Lys Ser Arg He Gly 260 265 270 GTC GTT AGT TTG CAA ACG GGA TAT AGC CCG GCC TAT TCT GGG GGC GTT 864 Val Val Ser Leu Gin Thr Gly Tyr Ser Pro Ala Tyr Ser Gly Gly Val 275 280 285 ACT TTT AAA AGC GGT AAA AAA CTG GTT ATA GAT GAA ATT TAC CAT GCC 912 Thr Phe Lys Ser Gly Lys Lys Leu Val He Asp Glu He Tyr His Ala 290 295 300 CCT TGG AAT TAT TTT GAC GCT AGG AAT GTT ACC GAT GTT GAA ATC AAC 960 Pro Trp Asn Tyr Phe Asp Ala Arg Asn Val Thr Asp Val Glu He Asn 305 310 315 320 AAG AGG ATT CTT TTT GGA GCC CCA GGA AAC ATT GCC GGC AAA ACA GGG 1008 Lys Arg He Leu Phe Gly Ala Pro Gly Asn He Ala Gly Lys Thr Gly 325 330 335 CTT ATG TTT AAT AAC CTA ACC CTA AAC AGC AAC GCA AGC ATG GAT TAT 1056 Leu Met Phe Asn Asn Leu Thr Leu Asn Ser Asn Ala Ser Met Asp Tyr 340 345 350 GGT AAG GAT TTA GAC TTA ACC ATT CAA GGG CAT TTC ACT AAC AAT CAA 1104 Gly Lys Asp Leu Asp Leu Thr He Gin Gly His Phe Thr Asn Asn Gin 355 360 365 GGC ACG ATG AAT CTT πT GTC CAA GAT GGG CGT GTA GCG ACC πA AAT 1152 Gly Thr Met Asn Leu Phe Val Gin Asp Gly Arg Val Ala Thr Leu Asn 370 375 380 GCA GGC CAT CAA GCA AGC ATG ATA TTT AAT AAT TTA GTG GAT AGC GCG 1200 Ala Gly His Gin Ala Ser Met He Phe Asn Asn Leu Val Asp Ser Ala 385 390 395 400 ACT GGG TTT TAC AAA CCA CTC ATT AAG ATC AAT AAC GCT CAA AAT CTC 1248 Thr Gly Phe Tyr Lys Pro Leu He Lys He Asn Asn Ala Gin Asn Leu 405 410 415 ACT AAA AAT AAA GAA CAT GTT TTA GTG AAA GGG CGA AAC Aπ GAT TAT 1296 Thr Lys Asn Lys Glu His Val Leu Val Lys Gly Arg Asn He Asp Tyr 420 425 430 AAT πA GTG GGA GTG CAA GGC GCT AGT TAT GAC AAT Aπ TCT GCA AGC 1344 Asn Leu Val Gly Val Gin Gly Ala Ser Tyr Asp Asn He Ser Ala Ser 435 440 445 AAC ACC AAT CTG CAA GAG CAA πC AAA GAG CGC CTA GCC Cπ TAT AAC 1392 Asn Thr Asn Leu Gin Glu Gin Phe Lys Glu Arg Leu Ala Leu Tyr Asn 450 455 460 AAC AAC AAC CGC ATG GAT ATT TGT GTG GTG CGA AAA GGC AAT ACC GAT 1440 Asn Asn Asn Arg Met Asp He Cys Val Val Arg Lys Gly Asn Thr Asp 465 470 475 480 GAC ATT AAA GCA TGC GGG ATG GCT ATC GGC AAT CAA AGC ATG GTG AAT 1488 Asp He Lys Ala Cys Gly Met Ala He Gly Asn Gin Ser Met Val Asn 485 490 495 AAC CCT AAC GAT TAC AAA TAT CTT GAA GGT AAG GCA TGG AAA AAT ACA 1536 Asn Pro Asn Asp Tyr Lys Tyr Leu Glu Gly Lys Ala Trp Lys Asn Thr 500 505 510 GGG AT 1541 Gly (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID N0:4: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 513 amino acids (B) TYPE: amino acid (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 4: Gly Val Leu Asp Leu Trp Gin Ser Ala Gly Leu Ser He He Thr Pro 1 5 10 15 Pro Glu Gly Gly Tyr Glu Ser Lys Thr Lys Asp Asn Pro Ser Gin Asn 20 25 30 Ser Pro Lys Asn Asp Thr Gin Lys Thr Glu He Gin Pro Thr Gin Val 35 40 45 He Asp Gly Pro Phe Ala Gly Gly Lys Asp Thr Val Val Asn He Phe 50 55 60 His Leu Asn Thr Lys Ala Asp Gly Thr Leu Lys Ala Gly Gly Phe Lys 65 70 75 80 Ala Ser Leu Thr Thr Asn Ala Ala His Leu His He Gly Glu Gly Gly 85 90 95 Val Asn Leu Ser Asn Gin Ala Ser Gly Arg Ser Leu Leu Val Glu Asn 100 105 110 Leu Thr Gly Asn He Thr Val Glu Gly Thr Leu Arg Val Asn Asn Gin 115 120 125 Val Gly Gly Ala Ala Val Ala Gly Ser Ser Ala Asn Phe Glu Phe Lys 130 135 140 Ala Gly Ala Asp Thr Asn Asn Ala Thr Ala Thr Phe Asn Asn Asp He 145 150 155 160 His Leu Gly Lys Ala Val Asn Leu Arg Val Asp Ala His Thr Ala Tyr 165 170 175 Phe Asn Gly Asn He Tyr Leu Gly Lys Ser Thr Asn Leu Arg Val Asn 180 185 190 Gly His Ser Ala His Phe Lys Asn He Asp Ala Thr Lys Ser Asp Asn 195 200 205 Gly Leu Asn Thr Ser Ala Leu Asp Phe Ser Gly Val Thr Asp Lys Val 210 215 220 Asn He Asn Lys Leu Thr Thr Ser Ala Thr Asn Val Asn Val Lys Asn 225 230 235 240 Phe Asp He Lys Glu Leu Val Val Thr Thr Arg Val Gin Ser Phe Gly 245 250 255 Gin Tyr Thr He Phe Gly Glu Asn He Gly Asp Lys Ser Arg He Gly 260 265 270 Val Val Ser Leu Gin Thr Gly Tyr Ser Pro Ala Tyr Ser Gly Gly Val 275 280 285 Thr Phe Lys Ser Gly Lys Lys Leu Val He Asp Glu He Tyr His Ala 290 295 300 Pro Trp Asn Tyr Phe Asp Ala Arg Asn Val Thr Asp Val Glu He Asn 305 310 315 320 Lys Arg He Leu Phe Gly Ala Pro Gly Asn He Ala Gly Lys Thr Gly 325 330 335 Leu Met Phe Asn Asn Leu Thr Leu Asn Ser Asn Ala Ser Met Asp Tyr 340 345 350 Gly Lys Asp Leu Asp Leu Thr He Gin Gly His Phe Thr Asn Asn Gin 355 360 365 Gly Thr Met Asn Leu Phe Val Gin Asp Gly Arg Val Ala Thr Leu Asn 370 375 380 Ala Gly His Gin Ala Ser Met He Phe Asn Asn Leu Val Asp Ser Ala 385 390 395 400 Thr Gly Phe Tyr Lys Pro Leu He Lys He Asn Asn Ala Gin Asn Leu 405 410 415 Thr Lys Asn Lys Glu His Val Leu Val Lys Gly Arg Asn He Asp Tyr 420 425 430 Asn Leu Val Gly Val Gin Gly Ala Ser Tyr Asp Asn He Ser Ala Ser 435 440 445 Asn Thr Asn Leu Gin Glu Gin Phe Lys Glu Arg Leu Ala Leu Tyr Asn 450 455 460 Asn Asn Asn Arg Met Asp He Cys Val Val Arg Lys Gly Asn Thr Asp 465 470 475 480 Asp He Lys Ala Cys Gly Met Ala He Gly Asn Gin Ser Met Val Asn 485 490 495 Asn Pro Asn Asp Tyr Lys Tyr Leu Glu Gly Lys Ala Trp Lys Asn Thr 500 505 510 Gly (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID N0:5: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 17 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic) (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NQ:5: AAGGCTGGTG TGGATAC 17 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID N0:6: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 20 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic) (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID N0:6: CKNGTDATYT CNACRπYTT 20 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:7: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 21 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (i i ) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomi c) (xi ) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO: 7: GATTTGTGAA πTAAAGGTG G 21 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID N0:8: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 22 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic) (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID N0:8: GTCTATATCA TTATTAAACA TC 22 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID N0:9: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 18 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic) (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID N0:9: TAGTAACAAG ACTCATAT 18 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:10: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 17 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic) (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:10: CGTTAGCCGT πTACTG 17 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:11: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 18 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic) (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:11: GTGAAAGCGA AAAACAAG 18 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:12: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 21 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear ( i) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic) (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:12: AAGAGAAGCT TTAAACCCTC C 21 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:13: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 20 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic) (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:13: ATGGAAATAC AACAAACACA 20 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:14: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 19 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic) (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:14: CTCCAGAACC CACACGATT 19 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:15: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 24 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic) (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:15: TACAAACCTT ATTGATTGAT AGCC 24 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:16: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 19 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic) (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:16: AAGCTTGATT GATCACTCC 19 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:17: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 20 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic) (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:17: TTYTTYACNA CNGTNATHAT 20 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:18: (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (A) LENGTH: 23 base pairs (B) TYPE: nucleic acid (C) STRANDEDNESS: single (D) TOPOLOGY: linear (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic) (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:18: TTRTTDATYT CNARRAARTT RTC 23

Claims: What is claimed is: 1. An isolated nucleic acid encoding the Helicobacter pylori vacuolating toxin, consisting of the nucleotides 101 through 3964 of the nucleotide sequence defined in the Sequence Listing as SEQ ID N0:1. 2. The nucleic acid of claim 1 in a vector suitable for expressing the nucleic acid. 3. The nucleic acid of claim 2 in a host suitable for expressing the nucleic acid. 4. An isolated nucleic acid of Helicobacter pylori , consisting of the nucleotide sequence defined in the Sequence Listing as SEQ ID NO:1. 5. The nucleic acid of claim 4 in a vector suitable for expressing the nucleic acid. 6. The nucleic acid of claim 5 in a host suitable for expressing the nucleic acid. 7. A purified protein encoded by the nucleic acid of claim 1. 8. A composition comprising an immunogenic amount of the protein of claim 7 in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. 9. A method of immunizing a subject against infection by H. pylori , comprising administering to the subject the composition of Claim 8. 10. An isolated nucleic acid that selectively hybridizes with the nucleic acid of claim 4 under stringent conditions and has at least 70 % complementarity with segment of the sequence to which it hybridizes. 11. The nucleic acid of claim 10 in a vector suitable for expressing the nucleic acid. 12. The nucleic acid of claim 11 in a host suitable for expressing the nucleic acid. 13. A purified antigenic protein encoded by a nucleic acid of claim 12. 14. A composition comprising an immunogenic amount of the protein of claim 13 in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. 15. A method of immunizing a subject against infection by H. pylori , comprising administering to the subject the composition of Claim 14. 16. An isolated nucleic acid from Helicobacter pylori comprising the nucleotide sequence defined in the Sequence Listing as SEQ ID NO:3. 17. The nucleic acid of claim 16 in a vector suitable for expressing the nucleic acid. 18. The nucleic acid of claim 17 in a host suitable for expressing the nucleic acid. 19. A purified antigenic protein encoded by the nucleic acid of claim 16. 20. A composition comprising an immunogenic amount of the protein of claim 19 in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. 21. A method of immunizing a subject against infection by H. pylori , comprising administering to the subject the composition of Claim 20. 22. An isolated nucleic acid that selectively hybridizes with the nucleic acid of claim 16 under stringent conditions and has at least 70% complementarity with the segment of the sequence to which it hybridizes. 23. A composition comprising an immunogenic amount of an isolated naturally occurring strain of H. pylori that does not express a functional vacuolating toxin in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. 24. A method of immunizing a subject against infection by H. pylori , comprising administering to the subject the composition of Claim 23. 25. A genetically altered mutant strain of H. pylori that contains a non-JJ. pylori nucleic acid and does not express a functional vacuolating toxin. 26. A composition comprising an immunogenic amount of the genetically altered mutant H. pylori of claim 25 in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. 27. A method of immunizing a subject against infection by H. pylori , comprising administering to the subject the composition of Claim 26. 28. A method of treating H. pylori infection, comprising administering to the subject the immunogenic amount of the genetically altered mutant H. pylori of Claim 25. 29. An isolated nucleic acid encoding the amino acid of SEQ ID N0:1. 30. An isolated nucleic acid that selectively hybridizes with the nucleic acid of claim 29 under stringent conditions and has at least 95% complementarity with the segment to which it hybridizes, or with a nucleic acid complementary thereto. 31. The nucleic acid of claim 30 in a vector suitable for expressing the nucleic acid. 32. The nucleic acid of claim 31 in a host suitable for expressing the nucleic acid.

Inventors: BLASER MARTIN J, COVER TIMOTHY L, BLASER, MARTIN, J., COVER, TIMOTHY, L.
Applicants: UNIV VANDERBILT, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
Application year: 1995
Main classification: A61K39
IPC codes: A61K38, A61K39, A61P31, C07H21, C07K14, C12N1, C12N15, C12Q1, C12R1