This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Overweg, K.
Right arrow Articles by Hermans, P. W. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Overweg, K.
Right arrow Articles by Hermans, P. W. M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, August 2000, p. 4604-4610, Vol. 68, No. 8
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Differential Protein Expression in Phenotypic Variants of Streptococcus pneumoniae

Karin Overweg,1 Chris D. Pericone,2 Gerridina G. C. Verhoef,1 Jeffrey N. Weiser,2 Hugo D. Meiring,3 Ad P. J. M. De Jong,3 Ronald De Groot,1 and Peter W. M. Hermans1,*

Department of Pediatrics, Sophia Children's Hospital, Erasmus University, Rotterdam,1 and Laboratory of Organic Analytical Chemistry, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven,3 The Netherlands, and Departments of Pediatrics and Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania2

Received 8 December 1999/Returned for modification 20 March 2000/Accepted 26 April 2000

Streptococcus pneumoniae undergoes spontaneous phase variation resulting in opaque and transparent colony forms. Differences in colony opacity correlate with differences in virulence: the transparent variants are more capable of colonizing the nasopharynx, whereas the opaque variants show increased virulence during systemic infections. To gain insight into the pathogenesis of pneumococcal disease at the molecular level, protein expression patterns of the phenotypic variants of two pneumococcal strains were compared by high-resolution two-dimensional protein electrophoresis. In comparison with transparent variants, the opaque variants reduced the expression of two proteins and overexpressed one protein. The proteins were identified by mass spectrometric analysis. The protein overexpressed in the opaque phenotype revealed significant homology to elongation factor Ts of Helicobacter pylori. One of the two proteins that were underexpressed in the opaque variants revealed significant homology to the proteinase maturation protein PrtM of Lactocobacillus paracasei, a member of the family of peptidyl-prolyl cis/trans isomerases. A consensus lipoprotein signal sequence suggests that the putative proteinase maturation protein A, designated PpmA, is located at the surface of the pneumococcus and may play a role in the maturation of surface or secreted proteins. The second underexpressed protein was identified as pyruvate oxidase, SpxB. The lower SpxB expression in opaque variants most probably explains the reduced production of hydrogen peroxide, a reaction product of SpxB, in this variant. Since a spxB-defective pneumococcal mutant has decreased ability to colonize the nasopharynx (B. Spellerberg, D. R. Cundell, J. Sandros, B. J. Pearce, I. Idanpaan-Heikkila, C. Rosenow, and H. R. Masure, 1996. Mol. Microbiol. 19:803-813, 1996), our data suggest that SpxB plays an important role in enhancing the ability of transparent variants to efficiently colonize the nasopharynx.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratory of Pediatrics, Room Ee 1500, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Phone: 31-10-4088224. Fax: 31-10-4089486. E-mail: hermans{at}kgk.fgg.eur.nl.

Infection and Immunity, August 2000, p. 4604-4610, Vol. 68, No. 8
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Cron, L. E., Bootsma, H. J., Noske, N., Burghout, P., Hammerschmidt, S., Hermans, P. W. M. (2009). Surface-associated lipoprotein PpmA of Streptococcus pneumoniae is involved in colonization in a strain-specific manner. Microbiology 155: 2401-2410 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Dawid, S., Sebert, M. E., Weiser, J. N. (2009). Bacteriocin Activity of Streptococcus pneumoniae Is Controlled by the Serine Protease HtrA via Posttranscriptional Regulation. J. Bacteriol. 191: 1509-1518 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Quin, L. R., Onwubiko, C., Moore, Q. C., Mills, M. F., McDaniel, L. S., Carmicle, S. (2007). Factor H Binding to PspC of Streptococcus pneumoniae Increases Adherence to Human Cell Lines In Vitro and Enhances Invasion of Mouse Lungs In Vivo. Infect. Immun. 75: 4082-4087 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Allegrucci, M., Sauer, K. (2007). Characterization of Colony Morphology Variants Isolated from Streptococcus pneumoniae Biofilms. J. Bacteriol. 189: 2030-2038 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Henderson, B., Allan, E., Coates, A. R. M. (2006). Stress Wars: the Direct Role of Host and Bacterial Molecular Chaperones in Bacterial Infection. Infect. Immun. 74: 3693-3706 [Full Text]  
  • Allegrucci, M., Hu, F. Z., Shen, K., Hayes, J., Ehrlich, G. D., Post, J. C., Sauer, K. (2006). Phenotypic Characterization of Streptococcus pneumoniae Biofilm Development.. J. Bacteriol. 188: 2325-2335 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hermans, P. W. M., Adrian, P. V., Albert, C., Estevao, S., Hoogenboezem, T., Luijendijk, I. H. T., Kamphausen, T., Hammerschmidt, S. (2006). The Streptococcal Lipoprotein Rotamase A (SlrA) Is a Functional Peptidyl-prolyl Isomerase Involved in Pneumococcal Colonization. J. Biol. Chem. 281: 968-976 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Belanger, A. E., Clague, M. J., Glass, J. I., LeBlanc, D. J. (2004). Pyruvate Oxidase Is a Determinant of Avery's Rough Morphology. J. Bacteriol. 186: 8164-8171 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • van der Woude, M. W., Baumler, A. J. (2004). Phase and Antigenic Variation in Bacteria. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 17: 581-611 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Martin-Galiano, A. J., Wells, J. M., de la Campa, A. G. (2004). Relationship between codon biased genes, microarray expression values and physiological characteristics of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Microbiology 150: 2313-2325 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Pericone, C. D., Park, S., Imlay, J. A., Weiser, J. N. (2003). Factors Contributing to Hydrogen Peroxide Resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae Include Pyruvate Oxidase (SpxB) and Avoidance of the Toxic Effects of the Fenton Reaction. J. Bacteriol. 185: 6815-6825 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Pericone, C. D., Bae, D., Shchepetov, M., McCool, T., Weiser, J. N. (2002). Short-Sequence Tandem and Nontandem DNA Repeats and Endogenous Hydrogen Peroxide Production Contribute to Genetic Instability of Streptococcus pneumoniae. J. Bacteriol. 184: 4392-4399 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sutcliffe, I. C., Harrington, D. J. (2002). Pattern searches for the identification of putative lipoprotein genes in Gram-positive bacterial genomes. Microbiology 148: 2065-2077 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Balachandran, P., Brooks-Walter, A., Virolainen-Julkunen, A., Hollingshead, S. K., Briles, D. E. (2002). Role of Pneumococcal Surface Protein C in Nasopharyngeal Carriage and Pneumonia and Its Ability To Elicit Protection against Carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Infect. Immun. 70: 2526-2534 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Weiser, J. N., Bae, D., Epino, H., Gordon, S. B., Kapoor, M., Zenewicz, L. A., Shchepetov, M. (2001). Changes in Availability of Oxygen Accentuate Differences in Capsular Polysaccharide Expression by Phenotypic Variants and Clinical Isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Infect. Immun. 69: 5430-5439 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»