Relative Deficiency in Albumin Methionine Content is Associated With Decreased Antioxidant Capacity of Equine Plasma.

Relative to other species, horses seem particularly susceptible to oxidative stress. Plasma albumin plays an important role in preventing oxidative damage, in part due to its methionine (MET) content. Equine albumin is highly unusual in that it contains no MET residues.

Role of a new intimin/invasin-like protein in Yersinia pestis virulence.

A comprehensive TnphoA mutant library was constructed in Yersinia pestis KIM6 to identify surface proteins involved in Y. pestis host cell invasion and bacterial virulence. Insertion site analysis of the library repeatedly identified a 9,042-bp chromosomal gene (YPO3944), intimin/invasin-like protein (Ilp), similar to the Gram-negative intimin/invasin family of surface proteins.

Outer membrane protein X (Ail) contributes to Yersinia pestis virulence in pneumonic plague and its activity is dependent on the lipopolysaccharide core length.

Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, is one of the most virulent microorganisms known. The outer membrane protein X (OmpX) in Y. pestis KIM is required for efficient bacterial adherence to and internalization by cultured HEp-2 cells and confers resistance to human serum.

Phenotypic characterization of OmpX, an Ail homologue of Yersinia pestis KIM.

The goal of this study was to characterize the Yersinia pestis KIM OmpX protein. Yersinia spp. provide a model for studying several virulence processes including attachment to, and internalization by, host cells.