OrfX, a Nucleomodulin Required for <i>Listeria monocytogenes</i> Virulence.

ABSTRACT: Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterial pathogen causing severe foodborne infections in humans and animals. Listeria can enter into host cells and survive and multiply therein, due to an arsenal of virulence determinants encoded in different loci on the chromosome. Several key Listeria virulence genes are clustered in Listeria pathogenicity island 1. This important locus also contains orfX (lmo0206), a gene of unknown function. Here, we found that OrfX is a small, secreted protein whose expression is positively regulated by PrfA, the major transcriptional activator of Listeria virulence genes. We provide evidence that OrfX is a virulence factor that dampens the oxidative response of infected macrophages, which contributes to intracellular surv

SUBMITTER: Prokop A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5666158 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature