The promoter of the Streptococcus pneumoniae putative fuculose kinase gene (fcsK), the first gene of a novel fucose utilization operon, is induced by fucose and repressed by glucose or sucrose. When the streptococcal polypeptide deformylase (PDF) gene (def1, encoding PDF) was placed under the control of P(fcsK), fucose-dependent growth of the S. pneumoniae (P(fcsK)::def1) strain was observed, confirming the essential nature of PDF in this organism. The mode of antibacterial action of actinonin, a known PDF inhibitor, was also confirmed with this strain. The endogenous fuculose kinase promoter is a tightly regulated, titratable promoter which will be useful for target validation and for confirmation of the mode of action of novel antibacterial drugs in S. pneumoniae.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JB.185.6.2051-2058.2003 | DOI Listing |
BMC Infect Dis
December 2024
Department of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zürich, Zurich, 8097, Switzerland.
Introduction: The ability to detect pathogenic bacteria before the onsets of severe respiratory symptoms and to differentiate bacterial infection allows to improve patient-tailored treatment leading to a significant reduction in illness severity, comorbidity as well as antibiotic resistance. As such, this study refines the application of the non-invasive Secondary Electrospray Ionization-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (SESI-HRMS) methodology for real-time and early detection of human respiratory bacterial pathogens in the respiratory tract of a mouse infection model.
Methods: A real-time analysis of changes in volatile metabolites excreted by mice undergoing a lung infection by Staphylococcus aureus or Streptococcus pneumoniae were evaluated using a SESI-HRMS instrument.
Nan Fang Yi Ke Da Xue Xue Bao
December 2024
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Hengyang First People's Hospital, Hengyang 421001, China.
Objectives: To investigate the protective effect of the probiotic bacterium K12 (K12) against (Mp) infection in mice.
Methods: Forty male BALB/c mice were randomized into normal control group, K12 treatment group, Mp infection group, and K12 pretreatment prior to Mp infection group. The probiotic K12 was administered daily by gavage for 14 days before Mp infection induced by intranasal instillation of Mp.
Am J Pathol
December 2024
Department of Periodontology, School of Dentistry, Aichi Gakuin University, Nagoya, Japan.
Periodontitis was reported to be associated with aspiration pneumonia. However, the relationship between periodontitis and aspiration pneumonia remains unclear. This study investigated the virulence factor of Porphyromonas gingivalis, which exacerbates aspiration pneumonia, and the role of IL-35, an inhibitory heterodimeric cytokine of EBI3 and p35, in aspiration pneumonia using Ebi3 knockout (KO) mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS Pathog
December 2024
Center for Infection Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae forms multiple epigenetically and phenotypically distinct intra-populations by invertase PsrA-driven inversions of DNA methyltransferase hsdS genes in the colony opacity-determinant (cod) locus. As manifested by phase switch between opaque and transparent colonies, different genome methylation patterns or epigenomes confer pathogenesis-associated traits, but it is unknown how the pathogen controls the hsdS inversion orientations. Here, we report our finding of the SpxA1-TenA toxin-antitoxin (TA) system that regulates the orientations of hsdS inversions, and thereby bacterial epigenome and associated traits (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Catal
December 2024
Department of Crystallography and Structural Biology, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto de Química-Física "Blas Cabrera", Madrid 28006, Spain.
Remodeling of the pneumococcal cell wall, carried out by peptidoglycan (PG) hydrolases, is imperative for maintaining bacterial cell shape and ensuring survival, particularly during cell division or stress response. The protein Spr1875 plays a role in stress response, both regulated by the VicRK two-component system (analogous to the WalRK TCS found in Firmicutes). Modular Spr1875 presents a putative cell-wall binding module at the N-terminus and a catalytic C-terminal module (Spr1875) connected by a long linker.
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