Characterization of the activity and expression of arginine decarboxylase in human and animal Chlamydia pathogens.

ABSTRACT: Chlamydia pneumoniae encodes a functional arginine decarboxylase (ArgDC), AaxB, that activates upon self-cleavage and converts l-arginine to agmatine. In contrast, most Chlamydia trachomatis serovars carry a missense or nonsense mutation in aaxB abrogating activity. The G115R missense mutation was not predicted to impact AaxB functionality, making it unclear whether AaxB variations in other Chlamydia species also result in enzyme inactivation. To address the impact of gene polymorphism on functionality, we investigated the activity and production of the Chlamydia AaxB variants. Because ArgDC plays a critical role in the Escherichia coli acid stress response, we studied the ability of these Chlamydia variants to complement an E. coli ArgDC mutant in an acid shock assay. Active AaxB was dete

SUBMITTER: Bliven KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3510315 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature