Pneumococcal Extracellular Serine Proteases: Molecular Analysis and Impact on Colonization and Disease

Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

Sven Hammerschmidt¹  Murtadha Q. Ali¹  Gerhard Burchhardt¹  Thomas P. Kohler¹  Lukas Schulig² 

[1] Department of Molecular Genetics and Infection Biology, Interfaculty Institute of Genetics and Functional Genomics, Center for Functional Genomics of Microbes, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany;Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Institute of Pharmacy, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany;

关键词: Streptococcus pneumoniae;    pneumococcal serine protease;    respiratory infection;    colonization;    virulence factor;    pathogenesis;    structure;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fcimb.2021.763152

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The pathobiont Streptococcus pneumoniae causes life-threatening diseases, including pneumonia, sepsis, meningitis, or non-invasive infections such as otitis media. Serine proteases are enzymes that have been emerged during evolution as one of the most abundant and functionally diverse group of proteins in eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms. S. pneumoniae expresses up to four extracellular serine proteases belonging to the category of trypsin-like or subtilisin-like family proteins: HtrA, SFP, PrtA, and CbpG. These serine proteases have recently received increasing attention because of their immunogenicity and pivotal role in the interaction with host proteins. This review is summarizing and focusing on the molecular and functional analysis of pneumococcal serine proteases, thereby discussing their contribution to pathogenesis.

【 授权许可】

CC BY