Uncovering a new family of conserved virulence factors that promote the production of host-damaging outer membrane vesicles in gram-negative bacteria.

ABSTRACT: CprA is a short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) that contributes to resistance against colistin and antimicrobial peptides. The cprA gene is conserved across Pseudomonas aeruginosa clades and its expression is directly regulated by the two-component system PmrAB. We have shown that cprA expression leads to the production of outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) that block autophagic flux and have a greater capacity to activate the non-canonical inflammasome pathway. In a murine model of sepsis, a P. aeruginosa strain deleted for cprA was less virulent than the wild-type (WT) strain. These results demonstrate the important role of CprA in the pathogenicity of P. aeruginosa. It is worth noting that CprA is also a functional ortholog of hemolysin F (HlyF), which is encoded by virulence plasmids

SUBMITTER: Goman A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11752146 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature