scholarly journals Studies on the cell wall of group A streptococcus, with special reference to the T antigen

1960 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 470-473
Author(s):  
Makoto NAKAZAWA ◽  
Yuya NAKAMURA ◽  
Nobuyuki SAKAI
1959 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 668-671
Author(s):  
Makoto NAKAZAWA ◽  
Yuya NAKAMURA ◽  
Takashi HORIKOSHI

1972 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. E. Read ◽  
R. W. Reed

The replicative events of a virulent phage (A25) infection of a group A Streptococcus (T253) were studied using the electron microscope. The first intracellular evidence of phage replication in a cell occurred 30 min after infection with arrest of cell division and increase in the nucleic acid pool. Phage heads were evident in the nucleic acid pool of the cells 45 min after infection. Release of phages occurred by splitting of the cell wall along discrete lines. This appeared to be at sites of active wall synthesis, i.e., near the region of septum formation. Many phage components were released but relatively few complete phages indicating a relatively inefficient replicative system.


2014 ◽  
Vol 63 (12) ◽  
pp. 1670-1678 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Steemson ◽  
Nicole J. Moreland ◽  
Deborah Williamson ◽  
Julie Morgan ◽  
Philip E. Carter ◽  
...  

Group A streptococcus (GAS) is responsible for a wide range of diseases ranging from superficial infections, such as pharyngitis and impetigo, to life-threatening diseases, such as toxic shock syndrome and acute rheumatic fever (ARF). GAS pili are hair-like extensions protruding from the cell surface and consist of highly immunogenic structural proteins: the backbone pilin (BP) and one or two accessory pilins (AP1 and AP2). The protease-resistant BP builds the pilus shaft and has been recognized as the T-antigen, which forms the basis of a major serological typing scheme that is often used as a supplement to M typing. A previous sequence analysis of the bp gene (tee gene) in 39 GAS isolates revealed 15 different bp/tee types. In this study, we sequenced the bp/tee gene from 100 GAS isolates obtained from patients with pharyngitis, ARF or invasive disease in New Zealand. We found 20 new bp/tee alleles and four new bp/tee types/subtypes. No association between bp/tee type and clinical outcome was observed. We confirmed earlier reports that the emm type and tee type are associated strongly, but we also found exceptions, where multiple tee types could be found in certain M/emm type strains, such as M/emm89. We also reported, for the first time, the existence of a chimeric bp/tee allele, which was assigned into a new subclade (bp/tee3.1). A strong sequence conservation of the bp/tee gene was observed within the individual bp/tee types/subtypes (>97 % sequence identity), as well as between historical and contemporary New Zealand and international GAS strains. This temporal and geographical sequence stability provided further evidence for the potential use of the BP/T-antigen as a vaccine target.


2004 ◽  
Vol 186 (17) ◽  
pp. 5865-5875 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy C. Barnett ◽  
Aman R. Patel ◽  
June R. Scott

ABSTRACT The important human pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes (group A streptococcus GAS), requires several surface proteins to interact with its human host. Many of these are covalently linked by a sortase enzyme to the cell wall via a C-terminal LPXTG motif. This motif is followed by a hydrophobic region and charged C terminus, which are thought to retard the protein in the cell membrane to facilitate recognition by the membrane-localized sortase. Previously, we identified two sortase enzymes in GAS. SrtA is found in all GAS strains and anchors most proteins containing LPXTG, while SrtB is present only in some strains and anchors a subset of LPXTG-containing proteins. We now report the presence of a third sortase in most strains of GAS, SrtC. We show that SrtC mediates attachment of a protein with a QVPTGV motif preceding a hydrophobic region and charged tail. We also demonstrate that the QVPTGV sequence is a substrate for anchoring of this protein by SrtC. Furthermore, replacing this motif with LPSTGE, found in the SrtA-anchored M protein of GAS, leads to SrtA-dependent secretion of the protein but does not lead to its anchoring by SrtA. We conclude that srtC encodes a novel sortase that anchors a protein containing a QVPTGV motif to the surface of GAS.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S. Rush ◽  
Prakash Parajuli ◽  
Alessandro Ruda ◽  
Jian Li ◽  
Amol A. Pohane ◽  
...  

The cell wall of the human bacterial pathogen Group A Streptococcus (GAS) consists of peptidoglycan decorated with the Lancefield group A carbohydrate (GAC). GAC is a promising target for the development of GAS vaccines. In this study, employing chemical, compositional, and NMR methods, we show that GAC is attached to peptidoglycan via glucosamine 1-phosphate. This structural feature makes the GAC-peptidoglycan linkage highly sensitive to cleavage by nitrous acid and resistant to mild acid conditions. Using this characteristic of the GAS cell wall, we identify PplD as a protein required for deacetylation of linkage N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc). X-ray structural analysis indicates that PplD performs catalysis via a modified acid/base mechanism. Genetic surveys in silico together with functional analysis indicate that PplD homologs deacetylate the polysaccharide linkage in many streptococcal species. We further demonstrate that introduction of positive charges to the cell wall by GlcNAc deacetylation protects GAS against host cationic antimicrobial proteins.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harley King ◽  
Sowmya Ajay Castro ◽  
Amol Arunrao Pohane ◽  
Cynthia M. Scholte ◽  
Vincent A. Fischetti ◽  
...  

Endolysins are peptidoglycan (PG) hydrolases that function as part of the bacteriophage (phage) lytic system to release progeny phage at the end of a replication cycle. Notably, endolysins alone can produce lysis without phage infection, which offers an attractive alternative to traditional antibiotics. Endolysins from phage that infect Gram-positive bacterial hosts contain at least one enzymatically active domain (EAD) responsible for hydrolysis of PG bonds and a cell wall binding domain (CBD) that binds a cell wall epitope, such as a surface carbohydrate, providing some degree of specificity for the endolysin. Whilst the EADs typically cluster into conserved mechanistic classes with well-defined active sites, relatively little is known about the nature of the CBDs and only a few binding epitopes for CBDs have been elucidated. The major cell wall components of many streptococci are the polysaccharides that contain the polyrhamnose (pRha) backbone modified with species-specific and serotype-specific glycosyl side chains. In this report, using molecular genetics, microscopy, flow cytometry and lytic activity assays, we demonstrate the interaction of PlyCB, the CBD subunit of the streptococcal PlyC endolysin, with the pRha backbone of the cell wall polysaccharides, Group A Carbohydrate (GAC) and serotype c-specific carbohydrate (SCC) expressed by the Group A Streptococcus and Streptococcus mutans, respectively.


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