Defining the remarkable structural malleability of a bacterial surface protein Rib domain implicated in infection.

ABSTRACT: Streptococcus groups A and B cause serious infections, including early onset sepsis and meningitis in newborns. Rib domain-containing surface proteins are found associated with invasive strains and elicit protective immunity in animal models. Yet, despite their apparent importance in infection, the structure of the Rib domain was previously unknown. Structures of single Rib domains of differing length reveal a rare case of domain atrophy through deletion of 2 core antiparallel strands, resulting in the loss of an entire sheet of the β-sandwich from an immunoglobulin-like fold. Previously, observed variation in the number of Rib domains within these bacterial cell wall-attached proteins has been suggested as a mechanism of immune evasion. Here, the structure of tandem domains, combin

SUBMITTER: Whelan F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6936399 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature