The SarA protein family of Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus is widely appreciated as an opportunistic pathogen, primarily in hospital-related infections. However, recent reports indicate that S. aureus infections can now occur in other wise healthy individuals in the community setting. The success of this organism can be attributed to t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The international journal of biochemistry & cell biology 2008-01, Vol.40 (3), p.355-361
Main Authors: Cheung, Ambrose L., Nishina, Koren A., Trotonda, Maria Pilar, Tamber, Sandeep
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino Acid Sequence
Bacterial Proteins - chemistry
Bacterial Proteins - metabolism
Gene regulation
Humans
Molecular Sequence Data
Protein Structure, Secondary
SarA
SarA protein family
Sequence Alignment
Staphylococcal Infections - microbiology
Staphylococcus aureus - metabolism
Staphylococcus aureus - pathogenicity
Stapylococcus
Virulence
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Summary:Staphylococcus aureus is widely appreciated as an opportunistic pathogen, primarily in hospital-related infections. However, recent reports indicate that S. aureus infections can now occur in other wise healthy individuals in the community setting. The success of this organism can be attributed to the large array of regulatory proteins, including the SarA protein family, used to respond to changing microenvironments. Sequence alignment and structural data reveal that the SarA protein family can be divided into three subfamilies: (1) single domain proteins; (2) double domain proteins; (3) MarR homologs. Structural studies have also demonstrated that SarA, SarR, SarS, MgrA and thus possibly all members of this protein family are winged helix proteins with minor variations. Mutagenesis studies of SarA disclose that the winged helix motifs are important for DNA binding and function. Recent progress concerning the functions and plausible mechanisms of regulation of SarA and its homologs are discussed.
ISSN:1357-2725
1878-5875
DOI:10.1016/j.biocel.2007.10.032