title: Staphylococcus aureus sortase, an enzyme that anchors surface proteins to the cell wall.
abstract: Surface proteins of Gram-positive bacteria are linked to the bacterial cell wall by a mechanism that involves cleavage of a conserved Leu-Pro-X-Thr-Gly (LPXTG) motif and that occurs during assembly of the peptidoglycan cell wall. A Staphylococcus aureus mutant defective in the anchoring of surface proteins was isolated and shown to carry a mutation in the srtA gene. Overexpression of srtA increased the rate of surface protein anchoring, and homologs of srtA were found in other pathogenic Gram-positive bacteria. The protein specified by srtA, sortase, may be a useful target for the development of new antimicrobial drugs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, UCLA School of Medicine, University of California, 10833 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Mazmanian
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ton-That
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Schneewind
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019881:Aminoacyltransferases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism*; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D010457:Peptidoglycan / Q000378:metabolism*; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D010457:Peptidoglycan; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals; D019881:Aminoacyltransferases; C120542:sortase A; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases