3irp

Publication Abstract from PubMed

Staphylococci use cell wall-anchored proteins as adhesins to attach to host tissues. Staphylococcus saprophyticus, a uropathogenic species, has a unique cell wall-anchored protein, uro-adherence factor A (UafA), which shows erythrocyte binding activity. To investigate the mechanism of adhesion by UafA, we determined the crystal structure of the functional region of UafA at 1.5 A resolution. The structure was composed of three domains, designated as the N2, N3, and B domains, arranged in a triangular relative configuration. Hemagglutination inhibition assay with domain-truncated mutants indicated that both N and B domains were necessary for erythrocyte binding. Based on these results, a novel manner of ligand binding in which the B domain acts as a functional domain was proposed as the adhesion mechanism of S. saprophyticus.

Crystal structure of the functional region of Uro-adherence factor A from Staphylococcus saprophyticus reveals participation of the B domain in ligand binding.,Matsuoka E, Tanaka Y, Kuroda M, Shouji Y, Ohta T, Tanaka I, Yao M Protein Sci. 2011 Feb;20(2):406-16. doi: 10.1002/pro.573. PMID:21280131^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.