J. Christopher Fenno

The Treponema denticola gene encoding its major surface protein (Msp) is an ortholog of the T. pallidum tprA to - K gene family that includes tprK , whose remarkable in vivo hypervariability is proposed to contribute to T. pallidum immune evasion. Using a combined strategy of fine-scale mutagenesis and advanced predictive molecular modeling, we characterized the Msp protein and present a high-confidence model of its structure as an oligomer embedded in the outer membrane.