A K+ yptake protein, TrkA, is required for serum, protamine, and polymyxin B resistance in Vibrio vulnificus.

ABSTRACT: Vibrio vulnificus, a highly virulent marine bacterium, is the causative agent of both serious wound infections and fatal septicemia in many areas of the world. To identify the genes required for resistance to human serum, we constructed a library of transposon mutants of V. vulnificus and screened them for hypersensitivity to human serum. Here we report that one of the isolated serum-susceptible mutants had a mutation in an open reading frame identified as trkA, a gene encoding an amino acid sequence showing high identity to that of TrkA of Vibrio alginolyticus, a protein required for the uptake of potassium. A trkA isogenic mutant was constructed via insertional inactivation, and it was significantly more easily killed by human serum, protamine, or polymyxin B than was the wild type. At K

SUBMITTER: Chen YC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC321579 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature