Role of Glutathione in Buffering Excess Intracellular Copper in Streptococcus pyogenes.

ABSTRACT: Copper (Cu) is an essential metal for bacterial physiology but in excess it is bacteriotoxic. To limit Cu levels in the cytoplasm, most bacteria possess a transcriptionally responsive system for Cu export. In the Gram-positive human pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes (group A Streptococcus [GAS]), this system is encoded by the copYAZ operon. This study demonstrates that although the site of GAS infection represents a Cu-rich environment, inactivation of the copA Cu efflux gene does not reduce virulence in a mouse model of invasive disease. In vitro, Cu treatment leads to multiple observable phenotypes, including defects in growth and viability, decreased fermentation, inhibition of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GapA) activity, and misregulation o

SUBMITTER: Stewart LJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7733945 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature