All fully sequenced strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) contain a version of the blp locus which is responsible for the regulation and secretion of a variable repertoire of pneumococcal bacteriocins called pneumocins and their associated immunity proteins. Pneumocins mediate intra- and interspecies competition in vitro and have been shown to provide a competitive advantage in viv...

PURPOSE To investigate the association of genetic and environmental factors, and their interactions in Korean patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD). METHODS A total of 314 robustly characterized exudative AMD patients, including 111 PCV (polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy) and 154 typical choroidal neovascularization (CNV), and 395 control subjects without any evidence...

DsbA is the major oxidase responsible for generation of disulfide bonds in proteins of E. coli envelope. In the present work we provided the first detailed characterization of disulfide exchange between DsbA and its natural substrate, HtrA protease. We demonstrated that HtrA oxidation relies on DsbA, both in vivo and in vitro. We followed the disulfide exchange between these proteins spectroflu...

In several micro-organisms, HtrA, a serine periplasmic protease, is considered an important virulence factor that plays a regulatory role in oxidative and temperature stress. The authors have previously shown that the vimA gene product is an important virulence regulator in Porphyromonas gingivalis. Further, purified recombinant VimA physically interacted with the major gingipains and the HtrA ...

The blp locus of a type 6A strain of Streptococcus pneumoniae encodes a two-peptide bacteriocin, pneumocin MN, which mediates intraspecies competition during mouse nasopharyngeal colonization. This locus is regulated by a quorum-sensing mechanism consisting of a dedicated two-component regulatory system and a peptide pheromone. Like most clinical isolates, this type 6A strain can be separated i...

The accumulation of malfolded proteins in the cell envelope of the Gram-positive eubacterium Bacillus subtilis was previously shown to provoke a so-called secretion stress response. In the present studies, proteomic approaches were employed to identify changes in the extracellular proteome of B. subtilis in response to secretion stress. The data shows that, irrespective of the way in which secr...

BACKGROUND The human pathogen Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a main cause for gastric inflammation and cancer. Increasing bacterial resistance against antibiotics demands for innovative strategies for therapeutic intervention. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We present a method for structure-based virtual screening that is based on the comprehensive prediction of ligand binding sites on a ...