title: Sorting sortases: a nomenclature proposal for the various sortases of Gram-positive bacteria.
abstract: Bacterial surface proteins constitute a diverse group of molecules with important functions, such as adherence, invasion, signaling and interaction with the host immune system or the environment. In Gram-positive bacteria, many surface proteins are anchored to the cell wall envelope by an enzyme named sortase, which recognizes a conserved carboxylic sorting motif. The sequence of the prototype staphylococcal SrtA has been widely used to identify homologs in bacterial genomes, revealing a profusion of sortases in almost all Gram-positive bacteria, often with more than one sortase-like protein per genome [M.J. Pallen, A.C. Lam, M. Antonio, K. Dunbar, Trends Microbiol. 9 (2001) 97-102]. In light of increasing reports on the identification and/or characterization of paralogous sortase genes, a classification of sortases now appears necessary. This report provides an analysis of sixty-one sortases from complete Gram-positive genomes, and suggests the existence of four structural groups of sortases. We propose the classification of sortases into 4 classes designated A, B, C and D. This classification should help to discriminate between sortases in the future.
authors.affiliation: Unité de Biologie des Bactéries Pathogènes à Gram-positif, URA CNRS 2172, 25, rue du Dr. Roux, 75724 Paris, France. sdramsi@pasteur.fr
authors.forename: Shaynoor
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dramsi
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Trieu-Cuot
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bierne
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019881:Aminoacyltransferases / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D009626:Terminology as Topic
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D019881:Aminoacyltransferases; C120542:sortase A; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases