Metal-dependent allosteric activation and inhibition on the same molecular scaffold: the copper sensor CopY from Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Metal-dependent allosteric activation and inhibition on the same molecular scaffold: the copper sensor CopY from Streptococcus pneumoniae† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c7sc04396a

Copper Chaperone CupA and Zinc Control CopY Regulation of the Pneumococcal cop Operon

Any metal in excess can be toxic; therefore, metal homeostasis is critical to bacterial survival. Bacteria have developed specialized metal import and export systems for this purpose. For broadly toxic metals such as copper, bacteria have evolved only export systems. The copper export system (cop operon) usually consists of the operon repressor, the copper chaperone, and the copper exporter. In...

Two Proteins from Snake Venom have Potent Antibacterial Effects against Bacillus anthracis and Streptococcus pneumoniae

Background: Antibacterial proteins are widely expressed in snake venoms. Previously, we have isolated two immunodominant proteins with molecular weights of 14 and 65kD from the snake venom of Naja naja oxiana (N. oxiana). It was demonstrated that they had potent inhibitory effects against gram-positive bacteria, S. aureus and B. subtilis but were less effective against gram-negative bacteria, s...

A new structural paradigm in copper resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae

Copper resistance has emerged as an important virulence determinant of microbial pathogens. In Streptococcus pneumoniae, copper resistance is mediated by the copper-responsive repressor CopY, CupA and the copper-effluxing P(1B)-type ATPase CopA. We show here that CupA is a previously uncharacterized cell membrane-anchored Cu(I) chaperone and that a Cu(I) binding-competent, membrane-localized Cu...

The cop operon is required for copper homeostasis and contributes to virulence in Streptococcus pneumoniae.

High levels of copper are toxic and therefore bacteria must limit free intracellular levels to prevent cellular damage. In this study, we show that a number of pneumococcal genes are differentially regulated by copper, including an operon encoding a CopY regulator, a protein of unknown function (CupA) and a P1-type ATPase, CopA, which is conserved in all sequenced Streptococcus pneumoniae strai...