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Infection and Immunity, September 2007, p. 4463-4471, Vol. 75, No. 9
0019-9567/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00279-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Enterococcal Leucine-Rich Repeat-Containing Protein Involved in Virulence and Host Inflammatory Response{triangledown}

Sophie Brinster,1 Brunella Posteraro,2 Hélène Bierne,3 Adriana Alberti,1 Samira Makhzami,1 Maurizio Sanguinetti,2 and Pascale Serror1*

Unité des Bactéries Lactiques et Pathogènes Opportunistes UR13888, INRA, Jouy-en-Josas, France,1 Institute of Microbiology, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Roma, Italy,2 Unité des Interactions Bactéries-Cellules, Institut Pasteur, INSERM U604, INRA USC2020, Paris, France3

Received 20 February 2007/ Returned for modification 19 April 2007/ Accepted 29 June 2007

Enterococcus faecalis is an important nosocomial pathogen associated with high morbidity and mortality for patients who are immunocompromised or who have severe underlying diseases. The E. faecalis genome encodes numerous surface-exposed proteins that may be involved in virulence. This work describes the characterization of the first internalin-like protein in E. faecalis, ElrA, belonging to the recently identified WxL family of surface proteins. ElrA contains an N-terminal signal peptide for export, a leucine-rich repeat domain that may interact with host cells, and a C-terminal WxL domain that interacts with the peptidoglycan. Disruption of the elrA gene significantly attenuates bacterial virulence in a mouse peritonitis model. The elrA deletion mutant also displays a defect in infection of host macrophages and a decreased interleukin-6 response in vivo. Finally, elrA expression is induced in vivo. Altogether, these results demonstrate a role for ElrA in the E. faecalis infectious process in vivo and suggest that this surface protein may contribute to E. faecalis virulence by stimulating the host inflammatory response.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Unité des Bactéries Lactiques et Pathogènes Opportunistes, INRA, Domaine de Vilvert, 78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France. Phone: 33 1 34 65 21 66. Fax: 33 1 34 65 20 65. E-mail: pascale.serror{at}jouy.inra.fr

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 9 July 2007.

Editor: V. J. DiRita

Infection and Immunity, September 2007, p. 4463-4471, Vol. 75, No. 9
0019-9567/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00279-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Lebreton, F., Riboulet-Bisson, E., Serror, P., Sanguinetti, M., Posteraro, B., Torelli, R., Hartke, A., Auffray, Y., Giard, J.-C. (2009). ace, Which Encodes an Adhesin in Enterococcus faecalis, Is Regulated by Ers and Is Involved in Virulence. Infect. Immun. 77: 2832-2839 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hebert, L., Courtin, P., Torelli, R., Sanguinetti, M., Chapot-Chartier, M.-P., Auffray, Y., Benachour, A. (2007). Enterococcus faecalis Constitutes an Unusual Bacterial Model in Lysozyme Resistance. Infect. Immun. 75: 5390-5398 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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