TY  - JOUR
A1  - Claus, Heike
A1  - Hubert, Kerstin
A1  - Becher, Dörte
A1  - Otto, Andreas
A1  - Pawlik, Marie-Christin
A1  - Lappann, Ines
A1  - Strobel, Lea
A1  - Vogel, Ulrich
A1  - Johswich, Kay
T1  - A homopolymeric adenosine tract in the promoter region of nspA influences factor H-mediated serum resistance in Neisseria meningitidis
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Although usually asymptomatically colonizing the human nasopharynx, the Gram-negative bacterium Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus) can spread to the blood stream and cause invasive disease. For survival in blood, N. meningitidis evades the complement system by expression of a polysaccharide capsule and surface proteins sequestering the complement regulator factor H (fH). Meningococcal strains belonging to the sequence type (ST-) 41/44 clonal complex (cc41/44) cause a major proportion of serogroup B meningococcal disease worldwide, but they are also common in asymptomatic carriers. Proteome analysis comparing cc41/44 isolates from invasive disease versus carriage revealed differential expression levels of the outer membrane protein NspA, which binds fH. Deletion of nspA reduced serum resistance and NspA expression correlated with fH sequestration. Expression levels of NspA depended on the length of a homopolymeric tract in the nspA promoter: A 5-adenosine tract dictated low NspA expression, whereas a 6-adenosine motif guided high NspA expression. Screening German cc41/44 strain collections revealed the 6-adenosine motif in 39% of disease isolates, but only in 3.4% of carriage isolates. Thus, high NspA expression is associated with disease, but not strictly required. The 6-adenosine nspA promoter is most common to the cc41/44, but is also found in other hypervirulent clonal complexes.
KW  - Meningitis
KW  - Pathogens
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-200956
VL  - 9
ER  -