title: An iron-regulated sortase anchors a class of surface protein during Staphylococcus aureus pathogenesis.
abstract: Sortase (SrtA), an enzyme that anchors surface proteins to the cell wall of Gram-positive bacteria, cleaves sorting signals at the LPXTG motif. We have identified a second sortase (SrtB) in the Gram-positive pathogen Staphylococcus aureus that is required for anchoring of a surface protein with a NPQTN motif. Purified SrtB cleaves NPQTN-bearing peptides in vitro, and a srtB mutant is defective in the persistence of animal infections. srtB is part of an iron-regulated locus called iron-responsive surface determinants (isd), which also contains a ferrichrome transporter and surface proteins with NPQTN and LPXTG motifs. Cell wall-anchored surface proteins and the isd locus seem involved in a novel mechanism of iron acquisition that is important for bacterial pathogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Committee on Microbiology, Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, University of Chicago, 920 58th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
authors.forename: Sarkis K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Mazmanian
authors.forename: Hung
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ton-That
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Schneewind
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019881:Aminoacyltransferases / Q000378:metabolism*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D010957:Plasmids / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000472:pathogenicity*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D010455:Peptides; D012097:Repressor Proteins; C068477:ferric uptake regulating proteins, bacterial; D007501:Iron; D019881:Aminoacyltransferases; C120542:sortase A; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases