The serine protease HtrA regulates Group B Streptococcus virulence and affects the host response to infection.

ABSTRACT: Group B Streptococcus (GBS) rectovaginally colonizes up to 20% of women worldwide and is a leading cause of invasive infections during pregnancy, contributing annually to a significant proportion of preterm births, neonatal infections, and stillbirths. Despite its reputation as a perinatal pathogen, GBS infection rates in non-pregnant adults are also increasing. While much progress has been made to understand transcriptional regulation of virulence by two-component systems, many aspects of GBS virulence regulation remain understudied. Although many bacterial pathogens utilize high temperature response A (HtrA) family serine proteases to regulate virulence and stress responses through varied mechanisms, the function of HtrA in GBS was unknown. Here, we demonstrate that HtrA is localized to

SUBMITTER: Brokaw A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12520345 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature