The Bacillus anthracis protein MprF is required for synthesis of lysylphosphatidylglycerols and for resistance to cationic antimicrobial peptides.

ABSTRACT: During inhalational anthrax, Bacillus anthracis survives and replicates in alveolar macrophages, followed by rapid invasion into the host's bloodstream, where it multiplies to cause heavy bacteremia. B. anthracis must therefore defend itself from host immune functions encountered during both the intracellular and the extracellular stages of anthrax infection. In both of these niches, cationic antimicrobial peptides are an essential component of the host's innate immune response that targets B. anthracis. However, the genetic determinants of B. anthracis contributing to resistance to these peptides are largely unknown. Here we generated Tn917 transposon mutants in the DeltaANR strain (pXO1- pXO2-) of B. anthracis and screened them for altered protamine susceptibility. A protamine-sensitive

SUBMITTER: Samant S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2631992 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature