title: Silkworm apolipophorin protein inhibits Staphylococcus aureus virulence.
abstract: Silkworm hemolymph inhibits hemolysin production by Staphylococcus aureus. We purified a factor in the silkworm hemolymph responsible for this inhibitory activity. The final fraction with the greatest specific activity contained 220- and 74-kDa proteins. Determination of the N-terminal amino acid sequence revealed that the 220- and 74-kDa proteins were apolipophorin I and apolipophorin II, respectively, indicating that the factor was apolipophorin (ApoLp). The purified ApoLp fraction showed decreased expression of S. aureus hla encoding α-hemolysin, hlb encoding β-hemolysin, saeRS, and RNAIII, which activate the expression of these hemolysin genes. Injection of an anti-ApoLp antibody into the hemolymph increased the sensitivity of silkworms to the lethal effect of S. aureus. Hog gastric mucin, a mammalian homologue of ApoLp, decreased the expression of S. aureus hla and hlb. These findings suggest that ApoLp in the silkworm hemolymph inhibits S. aureus virulence and contributes to defense against S. aureus infection and that its activity is conserved in mammalian mucin.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Microbiology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-1, 7-chome, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hanada
authors.forename: Kazuhisa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sekimizu
authors.forename: Chikara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kaito
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001053:Apolipoproteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D012831:Bombyx / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000472:pathogenicity*
chemical_list: D001053:Apolipoproteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; D019476:Insect Proteins; C021091:staphylococcal alpha-toxin