Neisseria gonorrhoeae-derived heptose elicits an innate immune response and drives HIV-1 expression.

ABSTRACT: Clinical and epidemiological synergy exists between the globally important sexually transmitted infections, gonorrhea and HIV. Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which causes gonorrhea, is particularly adept at driving HIV-1 expression, but the molecular determinants of this relationship remain undefined. N. gonorrhoeae liberates a soluble factor that potently induces expression from the HIV-1 LTR in coinfected cluster of differentiation 4-positive (CD4(+)) T lymphocytes, but this factor is not a previously described innate effector. A genome-wide mutagenesis approach was undertaken to reveal which component(s) of N. gonorrhoeae induce HIV-1 expression in CD4(+) T lymphocytes. A mutation in the ADP-heptose biosynthesis gene, hldA, rendered the bacteria unable to induce HIV-1 expression. The hldA mutan

SUBMITTER: Malott RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3690901 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature