Journal article
Control of pili and sialyltransferase expression in Neisseria gonorrhoeae is mediated by the transcriptional regulator CrgA
Molecular microbiology, v 91(6), pp 1120-1135
Mar 2014
PMID: 24433334
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Contact-regulated gene A (CrgA) is a transcriptional regulator present in the pathogenic Neisseria that functions as both an activator and a repressor of transcription following contact with host cells. While its mechanism of action has been studied extensively in Neisseria meningitidis, the specific subset of genes that CrgA targets has been debated. Although the majority of these constitute virulence genes, suggesting that CrgA is important in pathogenesis, no study to date has examined the effects of CrgA in Neisseria gonorrhoeae. In this report, we generated a knockout mutant of crgA (ΔcrgA) in the serum-sensitive gonococcal strain F62. crgA deletion resulted in a reduction in the transcript and protein levels of the primary pilin component pilE via mechanisms that were both contact-dependent and -independent. In contrast, ΔcrgA overexpressed the main determinant of serum resistance in F62, lipooligosaccharide sialyltransferase (Lst). CrgA-mediated lst repression was direct as both recombinant and native CrgA bound to the lst promoter at multiple locations in EMSA and ChIP assays respectively. The increase in Lst levels associated with crgA deletion correlated with enhanced protection against killing by normal human serum. These data suggest a role for CrgA in virulence regulation during both cell adherence and planktonic growth.
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Details
- Title
- Control of pili and sialyltransferase expression in Neisseria gonorrhoeae is mediated by the transcriptional regulator CrgA
- Creators
- Kathryn A Matthias - Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USARichard F Rest
- Publication Details
- Molecular microbiology, v 91(6), pp 1120-1135
- Publisher
- Wiley; England
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- [Retired Faculty]
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000333446300007
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84896738279
- Other Identifier
- 991014877879104721
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
- Microbiology