title: Translation elongation factor EF-Tu is a target for Stp, a serine-threonine phosphatase involved in virulence of Listeria monocytogenes.
abstract: Listeria monocytogenes is a pathogen that causes listeriosis, a severe food-borne infection. This bacterium, in order to survive and grow in the multiple conditions encountered in the host and the environment, has evolved a large number of regulatory elements, in particular many signal transduction systems based on reversible phosphorylation. The genome sequence has revealed genes for 16 putative two-component systems, four putative tyrosine phosphatases, three putative serine-threonine kinases and two putative serine-threonine phosphatases. We found that one of the latter genes, stp, encodes a functional Mn(2+)-dependent serine-threonine phosphatase similar to PPM eukaryotic phosphatases (Mg(2+)-or Mn(2+)-dependent protein phosphatase) and is required for growth of L. monocytogenes in a murine model of infection. We identified as the first target for Stp, the elongation factor EF-Tu. Post-translational phosphorylation of EF-Tu had been shown to prevent its binding to amino-acylated transfer RNA as well as to kirromycin, an antibiotic known to inhibit EF-Tu function. Accordingly, an stp deletion mutant is less sensitive to kirromycin. These results suggest an important role for Stp in regulating EF-Tu and controlling bacterial survival in the infected host.
authors.affiliation: Unité des Interactions Bactéries-Cellules, Institut Pasteur, INSERM U604, INRA USC2020, 28 rue du Dr. Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
authors.forename: Cristel
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Archambaud
authors.forename: Edith
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gouin
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pizarro-Cerda
authors.forename: Pascale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cossart
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Dussurget
mesh_terms: D008089:Listeria monocytogenes / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D010444:Peptide Elongation Factor Tu / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D014774:Virulence / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases; D010444:Peptide Elongation Factor Tu