Moonlighting bacteriophage proteins derepress staphylococcal pathogenicity islands

María Ángeles Tormo-Más, Ignacio Mir, Archana Shrestha, Sandra M. Tallent, Susana Campoy, Íñigo Lasa, Jordi Barbé, Richard P. Novick, Gail E. Christie and José R. Penadés ()
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María Ángeles Tormo-Más: Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Animal, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (CITA-IVIA), Apdo. 187, Segorbe, Castellón 12400, Spain
Ignacio Mir: Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Animal, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (CITA-IVIA), Apdo. 187, Segorbe, Castellón 12400, Spain
Archana Shrestha: Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, Virginia 23298-0678, USA
Sandra M. Tallent: Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, Virginia 23298-0678, USA
Susana Campoy: Departament de Genètica i Microbiologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Íñigo Lasa: Instituto de Agrobiotecnología, CSIC-Universidad Pública de Navarra, Pamplona, Navarra 31006, Spain
Jordi Barbé: Departament de Genètica i Microbiologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Richard P. Novick: New York University Medical Center, 540 First Avenue, New York, New York 10016, USA
Gail E. Christie: Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, Virginia 23298-0678, USA
José R. Penadés: Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Animal, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (CITA-IVIA), Apdo. 187, Segorbe, Castellón 12400, Spain

Nature, 2010, vol. 465, issue 7299, 779-782

Abstract: Moonlighting Toxic shock syndrome is a rare, potentially fatal illness that can be caused by the release of toxins from Staphylococcus bacteria. The toxic particles are encoded by discrete genetic units called pathogenicity islands, which reside passively in the host chromosome, under the control of the global repressor Stl, unless activated by a helper phage. It is now shown that a non-essential and specific protein from the helper phage 80α is responsible for de-repression of the pathogenicity island, thereby providing the mechanism for the first step of its mobilization. The proteins involved are 'moonlighters', because they have two different and genetically distinct activities. Through a remarkable evolutionary adaptation, various related pathogenicity islands co-opt entirely unrelated phage proteins to aid in their mobilization.

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1038/nature09065

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