Streamlined copper defenses make Bordetella pertussis reliant on custom-made operon.

ABSTRACT: Copper is both essential and toxic to living beings, which tightly controls its intracellular concentration. At the host-pathogen interface, copper is used by phagocytic cells to kill invading microorganisms. We investigated copper homeostasis in Bordetella pertussis, which lives in the human respiratory mucosa and has no environmental reservoir. B. pertussis has considerably streamlined copper homeostasis mechanisms relative to other Gram-negative bacteria. Its single remaining defense line consists of a metallochaperone diverted for copper passivation, CopZ, and two peroxide detoxification enzymes, PrxGrx and GorB, which together fight stresses encountered in phagocytic cells. Those proteins are encoded by an original, composite operon assembled in an environmental ancestor, which is und

SUBMITTER: Rivera-Millot A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7794356 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature