Role for serine protease HtrA (DegP) of Streptococcus pyogenes in the biogenesis of virulence factors SpeB and the hemolysin streptolysin S.

ABSTRACT: The serine protease HtrA is involved in the folding and maturation of secreted proteins, as well as in the degradation of proteins that misfold during secretion. Depletion of HtrA has been shown to affect the sensitivity of many organisms to thermal and environmental stresses, as well as being essential for virulence in many pathogens. In the present study, we compared the behaviors of several different HtrA mutants of the gram-positive pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes (group A streptococcus). Consistent with prior reports, insertional inactivation of htrA, the gene that encodes HtrA, resulted in a mutant that grew poorly at 37 degrees C. However, an identical phenotype was observed when a similar polar insertion was placed immediately downstream of htrA in the streptococcal chromosome, sug

SUBMITTER: Lyon WR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC356025 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature