The extracellular loop of the membrane permease VraG interacts with GraS to sense cationic antimicrobial peptides in Staphylococcus aureus.

ABSTRACT: Host defense proteins (HDPs), aka defensins, are a key part of the innate immune system that functions by inserting into the bacterial membranes to form pores to kill invading and colonizing microorganisms. To ensure survival, microorganism such as S. aureus has developed survival strategies to sense and respond to HDPs. One key strategy in S. aureus is a two-component system (TCS) called GraRS coupled to an efflux pump that consists of a membrane permease VraG and an ATPase VraF, analogous to the BceRS-BceAB system of Bacillus subtilis but with distinct differences. While the 9 negatively charged amino acid extracellular loop of the membrane sensor GraS has been shown to be involved in sensing, the major question is how such a small loop can sense diverse HDPs. Mutation analysis in this s

SUBMITTER: Cho J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7951975 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature