2v04

Publication Abstract from PubMed

Phosphorylcholine, a crucial component of the pneumococcal cell wall, is essential in bacterial physiology and in human pathogenesis because it binds to serum components of the immune system and acts as a docking station for the family of surface choline-binding proteins. The three-dimensional structure of choline-binding protein F (CbpF), one of the most abundant proteins in the pneumococcal cell wall, has been solved in complex with choline. CbpF shows a new modular structure composed both of consensus and non-consensus choline-binding repeats, distributed along its length, which markedly alter its shape, charge distribution and binding ability, and organizing the protein into two well-defined modules. The carboxy-terminal module is involved in cell wall binding and the amino-terminal module is crucial for inhibition of the autolytic LytC muramidase, providing a regulatory function for pneumococcal autolysis.

Crystal structure of CbpF, a bifunctional choline-binding protein and autolysis regulator from Streptococcus pneumoniae.,Molina R, Gonzalez A, Stelter M, Perez-Dorado I, Kahn R, Morales M, Moscoso M, Campuzano S, Campillo NE, Mobashery S, Garcia JL, Garcia P, Hermoso JA EMBO Rep. 2009 Mar;10(3):246-51. Epub 2009 Jan 23. PMID:19165143^[1]

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