Staphylococcus aureus sortase mutants defective in the display of surface proteins and in the pathogenesis of animal infections.
Many gram-positive bacteria covalently tether their surface adhesins to the cell wall peptidoglycan. We find that surface proteins of Staphylococcus aureus are linked to the cell wall by sortase, an enzyme that cleaves polypeptides at a conserved LPXTG motif. S. aureus mutants lacking sortase fail to process and display surface proteins and are defective in the establishment of infections. Thus, the cell wall envelope of gram-positive bacteria represents a surface organelle responsible for interactions with the host environment during the pathogenesis of bacterial infections.
Mazmanian
S K
SK
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine, 10833 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Liu
G
G
Jensen
E R
ER
Lenoy
E
E
Schneewind
O
O
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019881:Aminoacyltransferases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D016296:Mutagenesis; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D013379:Substrate Specificity
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D019881:Aminoacyltransferases; C120542:sortase A; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases