title: Novel surface attachment mechanism of the Streptococcus pneumoniae protein PspA.
abstract: Pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) of Streptococcus pneumoniae has been found to utilize a novel mechanism for anchoring to the bacterial cell surface. In contrast to that of surface proteins from other gram-positive bacteria, PspA anchoring required choline-mediated interactions between the membrane-associated lipoteichoic acid and the C-terminal repeat region of PspA. Release of PspA from the cell surface could be effected by deletion of 5 of the 10 C-terminal repeat units, by high concentrations of choline, or by growth in choline-deficient medium. Other pneumococcal proteins, including autolysin, which has a similar C-terminal repeat region, were not released by these treatments. The attachment mechanism utilized by PspA thus appears to be uniquely adapted to exploit the unusual structure of the pneumococcal cell surface. Further, it has provided the means for rapid and simple isolation of immunogenic PspA from S. pneumoniae.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham 35294.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yother
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: White
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002794:Choline / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism; D004983:Ethanolamines / Q000378:metabolism; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000378:metabolism; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D009238:N-Acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine Amidase / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D013682:Teichoic Acids / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004983:Ethanolamines; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D013682:Teichoic Acids; C069816:phage shock protein, Bacteria; C009900:lipoteichoic acid; D009238:N-Acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine Amidase; D002794:Choline; C007369:2-diethylaminoethanol