title: Aspects of eukaryotic-like signaling in Gram-positive cocci: a focus on virulence.
abstract: Living organisms adapt to the dynamic external environment for their survival. Environmental adaptation in prokaryotes is thought to be primarily accomplished by signaling events mediated by two-component systems, consisting of histidine kinases and response regulators. However, eukaryotic-like serine/threonine kinases (STKs) have recently been described to regulate growth, antibiotic resistance and virulence of pathogenic bacteria. This article summarizes the role of STKs and their cognate phosphatases (STPs) in Gram-positive cocci that cause invasive infections in humans. Given that a large number of inhibitors to eukaryotic STKs are approved for use in humans, understanding how serine/threonine phosphorylation regulates virulence and antibiotic resistance will be beneficial for the development of novel therapeutic strategies against bacterial infections.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, University of Washington & Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute, 1900 Ninth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101-1304, USA.
authors.forename: Kellie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Burnside
authors.forename: Lakshmi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rajagopal
mesh_terms: D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D006095:Gram-Positive Cocci / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014774:Virulence; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D037521:Virulence Factors; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases