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PMID: 10698947 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Intimate adhesion of Neisseria meningitidis to human epithelial cells is under the control of the crgA gene, a novel LysR-type transcriptional regulator.

The EMBO journal ·Vol. 19 ·No. 5 ·2000-03-01 ·Pages 1068-78

Deghmane AE, Petit S, Topilko A, Pereira Y, Giorgini D, Larribe M, Taha MK

Abstract

PilC1, a pilus-associated protein in Neisseria menin- gitidis, is a key element in initial meningococcal adhesion to target cells. A promoter element (CREN, contact regulatory element of Neisseria) is responsible for the transient induction of this gene upon cell contact. crgA (contact-regulated gene A) encodes a transcriptional regulator whose expression is also induced upon cell contact from a promoter region similar to the CREN of pilC1. CrgA shows significant sequence homologies to LysR-type transcriptional regulators. Its inactivation in meningococci provokes a dramatic reduction in bacterial adhesion to epithelial cells. Moreover, this mutant is unable to undergo intimate adhesion to epithelial cells or to provoke effacing of microvilli on infected cells. Purified CrgA is able to bind to pilC1 and crgA promoters, and CrgA seems to repress the expression of pilC1 and crgA. Our results support a dynamic model of bacteria-cell interaction involving a network of regulators acting in cascade. CrgA could be an intermediate regulator in such a network.

MeSH Terms
Bacterial Adhesion/genetics Bacterial Proteins/genetics Base Sequence Cell Line Epithelial Cells/microbiology,physiology Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial Humans Meningococcal Infections/genetics,microbiology Molecular Sequence Data Neisseria meningitidis/physiology Transcription Factors/genetics
Chemicals
Bacterial Proteins CrgA protein, Neisseria meningitidis Transcription Factors
Authors & Affiliations
7 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Deghmane A E
Unité des Neisseria, Institut Pasteur, 25, 28 Rue du Dr Roux, 75724 Paris, Cedex 15, France.
Petit S
Topilko A
Pereira Y
Giorgini D
Larribe M
Taha M K
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Article Info
Journal
The EMBO journal
Abbr.
EMBO J
ISSN
0261-4189
DOI
10.1093/emboj/19.5.1068
Published
2000-03-01
Pages
1068-78
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
8208664
PMCID
PMC305645
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1093/emboj/19.5.1068 PMC Full Text View journal details
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