Multiple leptospiral sphingomyelinases (or are there?).

ABSTRACT: Culture supernatants of leptospiral pathogens have long been known to haemolyse erythrocytes. This property is due, at least in part, to sphingomyelinase activity. Indeed, genome sequencing reveals that pathogenic Leptospira species are richly endowed with sphingomyelinase homologues: five genes have been annotated to encode sphingomyelinases in Leptospira interrogans. Such redundancy suggests that this class of genes is likely to benefit leptospiral pathogens in their interactions with the mammalian host. Surprisingly, sequence comparison with bacterial sphingomyelinases for which the crystal structures are known reveals that only one of the leptospiral homologues has the active site amino acid residues required for enzymic activity. Based on studies of other bacterial toxins, we propose

SUBMITTER: Narayanavari SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3542825 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature