Affiliation:
1. Laboratory of Microbial Structure and Function, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana 59840
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Fundamental to the virulence of microbial pathogens is their capacity for adaptation and survival within variable, and often hostile, environments encountered in the host. We describe a novel, extragenomic mechanism of surface modulation which may amplify the adaptive and pathogenic potential of numerous bacterial species, including
Staphylococcus
,
Yersinia
, and pathogenic
Neisseria
species, as well as
Helicobacter pylori
and
Streptococcus pyogenes
. The mechanism involves specific bacterial recruitment of heparin, glycosaminoglycans, or related sulfated polysaccharides, which in turn serve as universal binding sites for a diverse array of mammalian heparin binding proteins, including adhesive glycoproteins (vitronectin and fibronectin), inflammatory (MCP-3, PF-4, and MIP-1α) and immunomodulatory (gamma interferon) intermediates, and fibroblast growth factor. This strategy impacts key aspects of microbial pathogenicity as exemplified by increased bacterial invasion of epithelial cells and inhibition of chemokine-induced chemotaxis. Our findings illustrate a previously unrecognized form of parasitism that complements classical virulence strategies encoded within the microbial genome.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Immunology,Microbiology,Parasitology
Cited by
94 articles.
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