title: YqiC of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is a membrane fusogenic protein required for mice colonization.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is an intracellular bacterial pathogen which can colonize a variety of hosts, including human, causing syndromes that vary from gastroenteritis and diarrhea to systemic disease.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this work we present structural information as well as insights into the in vivo function of YqiC, a 99-residue protein of S. Typhimurium, which belongs to the cluster of the orthologous group 2960 (COG2960). We found that YqiC shares biophysical and biochemical properties with Brucella abortus BMFP, the only previously characterized member of this group, such as a high alpha helix content, a coiled-coil domain involved in trimerization and a membrane fusogenic activity in vitro. In addition, we demonstrated that YqiC localizes at cytoplasmic and membrane subcellular fractions, that a S. Typhimurium yqiC deficient strain had a severe attenuation in virulence in the murine model when inoculated both orally and intraperitoneally, and was impaired to replicate at physiological and high temperatures in vitro, although it was still able to invade and replicate inside epithelial and macrophages cell lines.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This work firstly demonstrates the importance of a COG2960 member for pathogen-host interaction, and suggests a common function conserved among members of this group.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biotecnología, CICVyA-INTA Castelar, Los Reseros y Las Cabañas s/n, Buenos Aires, Argentina. mcarrica@leloir.org.ar
authors.forename: Mariela C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Carrica
authors.forename: Patricio O
authors.initials: PO
authors.lastname: Craig
authors.forename: Víctor A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: García-Angulo
authors.forename: Andes
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aguirre
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: García-Véscovi
authors.forename: Fernando A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Goldbaum
authors.forename: Silvio L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Cravero
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000737:chemistry; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D008561:Membrane Fusion; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D012376:Rodent Diseases / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality; D012481:Salmonella Infections, Animal / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality; D012486:Salmonella typhimurium / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014774:Virulence; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D037521:Virulence Factors