A homopolymeric adenosine tract in the promoter region of nspA influences factor H-mediated serum resistance in Neisseria meningitidis.

ABSTRACT: Although usually asymptomatically colonizing the human nasopharynx, the Gram-negative bacterium Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus) can spread to the blood stream and cause invasive disease. For survival in blood, N. meningitidis evades the complement system by expression of a polysaccharide capsule and surface proteins sequestering the complement regulator factor H (fH). Meningococcal strains belonging to the sequence type (ST-) 41/44 clonal complex (cc41/44) cause a major proportion of serogroup B meningococcal disease worldwide, but they are also common in asymptomatic carriers. Proteome analysis comparing cc41/44 isolates from invasive disease versus carriage revealed differential expression levels of the outer membrane protein NspA, which binds fH. Deletion of nspA reduced serum re

SUBMITTER: Claus H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6389960 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature