Structural Engineering of a Phage Lysin That Targets Gram-Negative Pathogens
Structural engineering of a phage lysin that targets Gram-negative pathogens Petra Lukacika, Travis J. Barnarda, Paul W. Kellerb, Kaveri S. Chaturvedic, Nadir Seddikia,JamesW.Fairmana, Nicholas Noinaja, Tara L. Kirbya, Jeffrey P. Hendersonc, Alasdair C. Stevenb, B. Joseph Hinnebuschd, and Susan K. Buchanana,1 aLaboratory of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892; bLaboratory of Structural Biology, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda,MD 20892; cCenter for Women’s Infectious Diseases Research, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110; and dLaboratory of Zoonotic Pathogens, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT 59840 Edited by* Brian W. Matthews, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, and approved April 18, 2012 (received for review February 27, 2012) Bacterial pathogens are becoming increasingly resistant to antibio- ∼10 kb plasmid called pPCP1 (7). Pla facilitates invasion in bu- tics. As an alternative therapeutic strategy, phage therapy reagents bonic plague and, as such, is an important virulence factor (8, 9). containing purified viral lysins have been developed against Gram- When strains lose the pPCP1 plasmid, they are killed by pesticin positive organisms but not against Gram-negative organisms due thus ensuring maximal virulence in the bacterial population. to the inability of these types of drugs to cross the bacterial outer Bacteriocins belong to two classes. Type A bacteriocins depend membrane. We solved the crystal structures of a Yersinia pestis on the Tolsystem to traverse the outer membrane, whereas type B outer membrane transporter called FyuA and a bacterial toxin bacteriocins require the Ton system.
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