Conservation of the Host-Interacting Proteins Tp0750 and Pallilysin among Treponemes and Restriction of Proteolytic Capacity to Treponema pallidum.

ABSTRACT: The spirochete Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum is the causative agent of syphilis, a chronic, sexually transmitted infection characterized by multiple symptomatic and asymptomatic stages. Although several other species in the genus are able to cause or contribute to disease, T. pallidum differs in that it is able to rapidly disseminate via the bloodstream to tissue sites distant from the site of initial infection. It is also the only Treponema species able to cross both the blood-brain and placental barriers. Previously, the T. pallidum proteins, Tp0750 and Tp0751 (also called pallilysin), were shown to degrade host proteins central to blood coagulation and basement membrane integrity, suggesting a role for these proteins in T. pallidum dissemination and tissue invasion. In the present

SUBMITTER: Houston S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4598410 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature