Genetic and functional analyses of PptA, a phospho-form transferase targeting type IV pili in Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

ABSTRACT: The PilE pilin subunit protein of Neisseria gonorrhoeae undergoes unique covalent modifications with phosphoethanolamine (PE) and phosphocholine (PC). The pilin phospho-form transferase A (PptA) protein, required for these modifications, shows sequence relatedness with and architectural similarities to lipopolysaccharide PE transferases. Here, we used regulated expression and mutagenesis as means to better define the relationships between PptA structure and function, as well as to probe the mechanisms by which other factors impact the system. We show here that pptA expression is coupled at the level of transcription to its distal gene, murF, in a division/cell wall gene operon and that PptA can act in a dose-dependent fashion in PilE phospho-form modification. Molecular modeling and site-d

SUBMITTER: Naessan CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2223744 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature