title: The glucosaminidase domain of Atl - the major Staphylococcus aureus autolysin - has DNA-binding activity.
abstract: In this communication, we describe evidence demonstrating the capacity of Atl, the major Staphylococcus aureus autolytic enzyme to bind DNA. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) show that both the Atl protein and the endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (GL) domain were able to bind DNA of nonspecific sequence. The implications of this unexpected observation for the physiology of S. aureus remain to be explored.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2780, Oeiras, Portugal.
authors.forename: Inês R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Grilo
authors.forename: Ana Madalena
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ludovice
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tomasz
authors.forename: Hermínia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: de Lencastre
authors.forename: Rita G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Sobral
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D024202:Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay; D006596:Hexosaminidases / Q000378:metabolism*; D009238:N-Acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine Amidase / Q000378:metabolism*; D011485:Protein Binding; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000201:enzymology*
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D004247:DNA; D006596:Hexosaminidases; D009238:N-Acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine Amidase
keywords: Atl autolysin; DNA binding; Staphylococcus aureus; protein-DNA interaction