Neisseria gonorrhoeae virulence factor NG1686 is a bifunctional M23B family metallopeptidase that influences resistance to hydrogen peroxide and colony morphology.

ABSTRACT: Symptomatic gonococcal infection, caused exclusively by the human-specific pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae (the gonococcus), is characterized by the influx of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) to the site of infection. Although PMNs possess a potent antimicrobial arsenal comprising both oxidative and non-oxidative killing mechanisms, gonococci survive this interaction, suggesting that the gonococcus has evolved many defenses against PMN killing. We previously identified the NG1686 protein as a gonococcal virulence factor that protects against both non-oxidative PMN-mediated killing and oxidative killing by hydrogen peroxide. In this work, we show that deletion of ng1686 affects gonococcal colony morphology but not cell morphology and that overexpression of ng1686 does not confer enhanced

SUBMITTER: Stohl EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3322868 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature