Streptococcus pneumoniae Choline Binding Proteins

Abstract

S. pneumoniae has two choline containing antigens; the cell wall associated teichoic acid (TA) and the plasma membrane associated lipoteichoic acid (LTA). TA is present in the highly inflammatory cell wall component which may contribute to pathogenesis. A trend to higher mortality in patients with detectable serum levels of TA-containing antigens has been demonstrated1. Organisms with a higher rate of turnover and an increased release of the TA are more virulent in a rabbit menigitis model2. The association of the choline binding proteins, autolysin (LytA) and pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) with LTA and TA depends on interactions with choline residues present in the carbohydrate component mediated via the choline binding domain, a C-terminal repeat region which in PspA consists of 10 highly conserved 20 amino acid repeats and in LytA of 6 repeats highly homologous to those of PspA3.KeywordsStreptococcus PneumoniaeTeichoic AcidAmino Acid RepeatCholine KinaseCholine PhosphateThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.