title: Rational design of a global inhibitor of the virulence response in Staphylococcus aureus, based in part on localization of the site of inhibition to the receptor-histidine kinase, AgrC.
abstract: Two-component signaling systems involving receptor-histidine kinases are ubiquitous in bacteria and have been found in yeast and plants. These systems provide the major means by which bacteria communicate with each other and the outside world. Remarkably, very little is known concerning the extracellular ligands that presumably bind to receptor-histidine kinases to initiate signaling. The two-component agr signaling circuit in Staphylococcus aureus is one system where the ligands are known in chemical detail, thus opening the door for detailed structure-activity relationship studies. These ligands are short (8- to 9-aa) peptides containing a thiolactone structure, in which the alpha-carboxyl group of the C-terminal amino acid is linked to the sulfhydryl group of a cysteine, which is always the fifth amino acid from the C terminus of the peptide. One unique aspect of the agr system is that peptides that activate virulence expression in one group of S. aureus strains also inhibit virulence expression in other groups of S. aureus strains. Herein, it is demonstrated by switching the receptor-histidine kinase, AgrC, between strains of different agr specificity types, that intragroup activation and intergroup inhibition are both mediated by the same group-specific receptors. These results have facilitated the development of a global inhibitor of virulence in S. aureus, which consists of a truncated version of one of the naturally occurring thiolactone peptides.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Synthetic Protein Chemistry, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA.
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Lyon
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mayville
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Muir
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Novick
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D015195:Drug Design; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D000071677:Histidine Kinase; D007700:Kinetics; D007783:Lactones; D008024:Ligands; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010957:Plasmids; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D007783:Lactones; D008024:Ligands; D009842:Oligopeptides; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; D011494:Protein Kinases; D000071677:Histidine Kinase