The relationship of the lipoprotein SsaB, manganese and superoxide dismutase in Streptococcus sanguinis virulence for endocarditis.

ABSTRACT: Streptococcus sanguinis colonizes teeth and is an important cause of infective endocarditis. Our prior work showed that the lipoprotein SsaB is critical for S. sanguinis virulence for endocarditis and belongs to the LraI family of conserved metal transporters. In this study, we demonstrated that an ssaB mutant accumulates less manganese and iron than its parent. A mutant lacking the manganese-dependent superoxide dismutase, SodA, was significantly less virulent than wild-type in a rabbit model of endocarditis, but significantly more virulent than the ssaB mutant. Neither the ssaB nor the sodA mutation affected sensitivity to phagocytic killing or efficiency of heart valve colonization. Animal virulence results for all strains could be reproduced by growing bacteria in serum under physiolog

SUBMITTER: Crump KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4070010 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature