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Rga is a regulator of adherence and pilus formation in Streptococcus agalactiae

  • Streptococcus agalactiae is the leading cause of bacterial sepsis and meningitis in neonates and is also the causative agent of several serious infections in immunocompromised adults. S. agalactiae encounters multiple niches during an infection, suggesting that regulatory mechanisms control the expression of specific virulence factors in this bacterium. The present study describes the functional characterization of a gene from S. agalactiae, designated rga, which encodes a protein with significant similarity to members of the RofA-like protein (RALP) family of transcriptional regulators. After deletion of the rga gene in the genome of S. agalactiae, the mutant strain exhibited significantly reduced expression of the genes srr-1 and pilA, which encode a serine-rich repeat surface glycoprotein and a pilus protein, respectively, and moderately increased expression of the fbsA gene, which encodes a fibrinogen-binding protein. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrated specific DNA binding of purified Rga to the promoter regions of pilA and fbsA, suggesting that Rga directly controls pilA and fbsA. Adherence assays revealed significantly reduced binding of the Δrga mutant to epithelial HEp-2 cells and to immobilized human keratin 4, respectively. In contrast, the adherence of the Δrga mutant to A549 cells and its binding to human fibrinogen was significantly increased. Immunoblot and immunoelectron microscopy revealed that the quantity of pilus structures was significantly reduced in the Δrga mutant compared with the parental strain. The wild-type phenotype could be restored by plasmid-mediated expression of rga, demonstrating that the mutant phenotypes resulted from a loss of Rga function.

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Metadaten
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Author:Ulrike Samen, Beate Heinz, Heike Boisvert, Bernhard J. Eikmanns, Dieter J. Reinscheid, Frederic Borges
Parent Title (English):Microbiology
Volume:157
Issue:8
First Page:2319
Last Page:2327
ISSN:1350-0872
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.044933-0
PMID:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21330442
Publisher:Microbiology Society
Date of first publication:2011/08/01
Copyright:(c) 2011 SGM
Departments, institutes and facilities:Fachbereich Angewandte Naturwissenschaften
Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC):5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 57 Biowissenschaften; Biologie / 579 Mikroorganismen, Pilze, Algen
Entry in this database:2015/04/02