Structural insight into the lactoferrin receptors from pathogenic Neisseria.

ABSTRACT: Neisseria are pathogenic bacteria that cause gonorrhea, septicemia, and meningitis. Like other pathogenic bacteria, Neisseria must acquire iron for survival from their local environment within the human host. Instead of secreting siderophores to scavenge iron, Neisseria steal iron from human iron binding proteins such as hemoglobin, transferrin and lactoferrin for survival. Recently we reported the crystal structures of the Neisseria meningitidis transferrin receptors TbpA and TbpB, as well as the structures of apo and holo human transferrin. We also analyzed these proteins using small angle X-ray scattering and electron microscopy to provide the molecular details explaining how Neisseria are able to interact with and extract iron from transferrin. Here, we utilize the structural reports,

SUBMITTER: Noinaj N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3716850 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature