Group a Streptococcus Produce Pilus-Like Structures Containing Protective Antigens and Lancefield T Antigens
Group A Streptococcus produce pilus-like structures containing protective antigens and Lancefield T antigens Marirosa Mora*†, Giuliano Bensi*†, Sabrina Capo*, Fabiana Falugi*, Chiara Zingaretti*, Andrea G. O. Manetti*, Tiziana Maggi*, Anna Rita Taddei‡, Guido Grandi*, and John L. Telford*§ *Chiron Vaccines, Via Fiorentina 1, 53100 Siena, Italy; and ‡Centro Interdipartimentale di Microscopia Elettronica, University of Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy Communicated by Rino Rappuoli, Chiron Corporation, Siena, Italy, September 8, 2005 (received for review July 29, 2005) Although pili have long been recognized in Gram-negative patho- extensively characterized and despite five decades of study, there gens as important virulence factors involved in adhesion and is still very little known about the structure and variability of T invasion, very little is known about extended surface organelles in antigens, although a gene of unknown function has been shown Gram-positive pathogens. Here we report that Group A Strepto- to code for the antigen recognized by T6 sera (9). Here we show coccus (GAS), a Gram-positive human-specific pathogen that that four of the 20 T antigens correspond to trypsin-resistant pili causes pharyngitis, impetigo, invasive disease, necrotizing fasciitis, composed of putative adhesion proteins and that recombinant and autoimmune sequelae has long, surface-exposed, pilus-like pilus proteins confer protection against lethal GAS challenge in structures composed of members of a family of extracellular a mouse model of infection and invasive disease. matrix-binding proteins. We describe four variant pili and show that each is recognized by a specific serum of the Lancefield Materials and Methods T-typing system, which has been used for over five decades to Bacterial Strains, Media, and Growth Conditions.
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