Protein Domain : Cysteine-rich outer membrane protein 3, Chlamydia IPR003517

Type	Family
Description	Three cysteine-rich proteins (also believed to be lipoproteins) make up the extracellular matrix of the Chlamydial outer membrane []. They are involved in the essential structural integrity of both the elementary body (EB) and recticulate body (RB) phase. As these bacteria lack the peptidoglycan layercommon to most Gram-negative microbes, such proteins are highly important in the pathogenicity of the organism.The largest of these is the major outer membrane protein (MOMP), and constitutes around 60% of the total protein for the membrane []. OMP2is the second largest, with a molecular mass of 58kDa, while the OMP3 protein is ~15kDa []. MOMP is believed to elicit the strongest immune response, and has recently been linked to heart disease through its sequence similarity to a murine heart-muscle specific alpha myosin [].The OMP3 family plays a structural role in the outer membrane during the EB stage of the Chlamydial cell, and different biovars show a small, yet highly significant, change at peptide charge level [ ]. Members of this family include Chlamydia trachomatis, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and Chlamydia psittaci.
Short Name	Cys-rich_OMP3_Chlamydia