Non-canonical Staphylococcus aureus pathogenicity island repression

DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkac855

Authors: Laura Miguel-Romero (Imperial College London; University of Glasgow) , Mohammed Alqasmi (University of Glasgow; Shaqra University) , Julio Bacarizo (Imperial College London; Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera) , Jason A. Tan (Virginia Commonwealth University) , Richard J. Cogdell (University of Glasgow) , John Chen (National University of Singapore) , Olwyn Byron (University of Glasgow) , Gail E. Christie (Virginia Commonwealth University) , Alberto Marina (CSIC and CIBER de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER)) , José R. Penadés (Imperial College London)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Nucleic Acids Research , VOL 2

State: Published (Approved)
Published: October 2022
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 16258

Abstract: Mobile genetic elements control their life cycles by the expression of a master repressor, whose function must be disabled to allow the spread of these elements in nature. Here, we describe an unprecedented repression-derepression mechanism involved in the transfer of Staphylococcus aureus pathogenicity islands (SaPIs). Contrary to the classical phage and SaPI repressors, which are dimers, the SaPI1 repressor StlSaPI1 presents a unique tetrameric conformation never seen before. Importantly, not just one but two tetramers are required for SaPI1 repression, which increases the novelty of the system. To derepress SaPI1, the phage-encoded protein Sri binds to and induces a conformational change in the DNA binding domains of StlSaPI1, preventing the binding of the repressor to its cognate StlSaPI1 sites. Finally, our findings demonstrate that this system is not exclusive to SaPI1 but widespread in nature. Overall, our results characterize a novel repression-induction system involved in the transfer of MGE-encoded virulence factors in nature.

Diamond Keywords: Bacteria

Subject Areas: Biology and Bio-materials


Instruments: B21-High Throughput SAXS , I03-Macromolecular Crystallography

Added On: 24/10/2022 10:56

Documents:
gkac855.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Pathogens Antibiotic Resistance Infectious Diseases Health & Wellbeing Structural biology Life Sciences & Biotech

Technical Tags:

Diffraction Scattering Macromolecular Crystallography (MX) Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS)