Copper Tolerance and Characterization of a Copper-Responsive Operon, copYAZ, in an M1T1 Clinical Strain of Streptococcus pyogenes.

ABSTRACT:

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Infection with Streptococcus pyogenes is associated with a breadth of clinical manifestations ranging from mild pharyngitis to severe necrotizing fasciitis. Elevated levels of intracellular copper are highly toxic to this bacterium, and thus, the microbe must tightly regulate the level of this metal ion by one or more mechanisms, which have, to date, not been clearly defined. In this study, we have identified two virulence mechanisms by which S. pyogenes protects itself against copper toxicity. We defined a set of putative genes, copY (for a regulator), copA (for a P1-type ATPase), and copZ (for a copper chaperone), whose expression is regulated by copper. Our results indicate that these genes are highly conserved among a range of clinical S. pyogenes isolates. The copY,

SUBMITTER: Young CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4518830 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature