1. Characterization of aBacillus anthracisspore coat-surface protein that influences coat-surface morphology
- Author
-
Patrick Eichenberger, Rong Wang, Susan L. Welkos, Michael Mallozzi, Joel A. Bozue, Krishna Moody, Peter T. McKenney, Adam Driks, Arthur M. Friedlander, Christopher K. Cote, Rebecca Giorno, Erh-Min Lai, Alex Slack, Janine R. Maddock, and Dengli Qiu
- Subjects
Molecular Sequence Data ,Bacillus cereus ,Virulence ,Bacillus ,Microscopy, Atomic Force ,Microbiology ,Endospore ,Article ,Anthrax ,Mice ,Bacterial Proteins ,Genetics ,Animals ,Humans ,Amino Acid Sequence ,Molecular Biology ,Spores, Bacterial ,Mice, Inbred BALB C ,Bacillaceae ,biology ,fungi ,biology.organism_classification ,Bacillales ,Bacillus anthracis ,Spore ,Mutation ,Female - Abstract
Bacterial spores are encased in a multilayered proteinaceous shell, called the coat. In many Bacillus spp., the coat protects against environmental assault and facilitates germination. In Bacillus anthracis, the spore is the etiological agent of anthrax, and the functions of the coat likely contribute to virulence. Here, we characterize a B. anthracis spore protein, called Cotbeta, which is encoded only in the genomes of the Bacillus cereus group. We found that Cotbeta is synthesized specifically during sporulation and is assembled onto the spore coat surface. Our analysis of a cotbeta null mutant in the Sterne strain reveals that Cotbeta has a role in determining coat-surface morphology but does not detectably affect germination. In the fully virulent Ames strain, a cotbeta null mutation has no effect on virulence in a murine model of B. anthracis infection.
- Published
- 2008
- Full Text
- View/download PDF