Neither protein has significant homology to anything in the GenBank database, indicating they are novel proteins. Additionally, the gly1 genes are only present in the two pathogenic Neisseria species, suggesting they are virulence genes. The results of these experiments show that the mutants show dramatically increased toxicity when compared to the wild-type strains. These results implicate the gly1 locus as having a role in the toxicity of N. gonorrhoeae to human fallopian tubes. Experiments are in progress to determine the molecular basis for this observation.
Many bacteria communicate with one another via the production of extracellular signalling molecules.
This phenomenon, termed quorum sensing, has been well characterized in the marine bacterium, Vibrio harveyi , and controls bioluminescence by this organism. AI-2 production is dependent on the luxS gene. LuxS homologs have been identified in many gram negative organisms, some of which have been shown to regulate the production of virulence factors. We have cloned the luxS homolog from N. gonorrhoeae . Experiments are in progress to more fully characterize this regulatory system and to identify genes that are controlled by this system.