Abstract
Surface proteins of Gram-positive bacteria are linked to the bacterial cell wall by a mechanism that involves cleavage of a conserved Leu-Pro-X-Thr-Gly (LPXTG) motif and that occurs during assembly of the peptidoglycan cell wall. A Staphylococcus aureus mutant defective in the anchoring of surface proteins was isolated and shown to carry a mutation in the srtA gene. Overexpression of srtA increased the rate of surface protein anchoring, and homologs of srtA were found in other pathogenic Gram-positive bacteria. The protein specified by srtA, sortase, may be a useful target for the development of new antimicrobial drugs.
Publication types
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Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
MeSH terms
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Amino Acid Sequence
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Aminoacyltransferases / chemistry
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Aminoacyltransferases / metabolism*
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Bacterial Proteins / metabolism*
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Cell Wall / metabolism*
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Cysteine Endopeptidases
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Genes, Bacterial
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Gram-Positive Bacteria / enzymology
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Gram-Positive Bacteria / genetics
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Membrane Proteins / metabolism*
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Mutagenesis
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Peptidoglycan / metabolism*
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Protein Sorting Signals
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Staphylococcus aureus / enzymology*
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Staphylococcus aureus / genetics
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Staphylococcus aureus / metabolism
Substances
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Bacterial Proteins
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Membrane Proteins
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Peptidoglycan
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Protein Sorting Signals
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Aminoacyltransferases
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sortase A
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Cysteine Endopeptidases