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Volume 157, Issue 8

Regulation of -alanylation of lipoteichoic acid in Free

Abstract

-Alanyl esters on lipoteichoic acid (LTA) are involved in adhesion, biofilm formation, resistance to cationic antimicrobial peptides, and immune stimulation. There is evidence that bacteria can modulate the level of -alanyl esters on LTA in response to challenge, but the mechanism of regulation appears to be different among bacteria. In this study, expression of the operon responsible for -alanylation of LTA was examined in the commensal bacterium . expression was assessed using the promoter– reporter gene assay, LTA -alanine content measurements and mRNA quantification. The results showed that expression was growth phase-dependent, with the greatest expression at the mid-exponential phase of growth. In contrast to , expression in was not affected by the exogenous addition of Mg or K. Interestingly, expression was upregulated under acidic conditions or when cells were stressed with polymyxin B, indicating that cell envelope stress may be a signal for expression. In view of these results, mutants defective in the cell envelope stress LiaSR two-component regulatory system were constructed. The and mutants showed an increase in expression over the parent strain at neutral pH. The mutants failed to respond to low pH and polymyxin B stress; expression remained the same in the presence or absence of these stresses. These results suggest that expression in is regulated by the LiaSR regulatory system in response to environmental signals such as pH and polymyxin B. The regulation appears to be complex, involving both repression and activation mechanisms.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Revised:
  • Published Online:
Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
© 2011 SGM
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2011-08-01
2024-04-25
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Regulation of d-alanylation of lipoteichoic acid in Streptococcus gordonii
Microbiology 157, 2248 (2011); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.048140-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.048140-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.048140-0
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