title: Streptococcus suis type 2 SSU0587 protein is a beta-galactosidase that contributes to bacterial adhesion but not to virulence in mice.
abstract: Bacterial surface proteins play key roles in virulence and often contribute to bacterial adhesion and invasion. We discovered that the Streptococcus suis type 2 (SS2) gene SSU0587 encodes a protein of 1,491 amino acids that possesses β-galactosidase activity. The surface association of the protein was dependent upon sortase activity. Deleting SSU0587 from clinical SS2 isolate JX081101 caused a loss of both β-galactosidase activity and adherence to microvascular endothelial cells. Deleting SSU0587 had no measurable impact on either invasion of microvascular endothelial cells or on virulence in a murine infection model, although the concentration of JX081101ΔSSU0587 was reduced in the brains of infected mice, as compared with the pathogen loads of the wild-type strain.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Research Center of Healthy Breeding Livestock & Poultry, Hunan Engineering & Research Center of Animal & Poultry Science, Key Lab Agro-ecology Processing Subtropical Region, Scientific Observational and Experimental Station of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in South-Central China, Ministry of Agriculture, Changsha, Hunan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yulong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yulong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Philip R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Hardwidge
authors.forename: Weihuan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion / Q000502:physiology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D017011:Streptococcus suis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014774:Virulence; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001616:beta-Galactosidase