Phase-variable expression of lptA modulates the resistance of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to cationic antimicrobial peptides

Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2014 Jul;58(7):4230-3. doi: 10.1128/AAC.03108-14. Epub 2014 May 12.

Abstract

Phosphoethanolamine (PEA) decoration of lipid A produced by Neisseria gonorrhoeae has been linked to bacterial resistance to cationic antimicrobial peptides/proteins (CAMPs) and in vivo fitness during experimental infection. We now report that the lptA gene, which encodes the PEA transferase responsible for this decoration, is in an operon and that high-frequency mutation in a polynucleotide repeat within lptA can influence gonococcal resistance to CAMPs.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
  • Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / pharmacology*
  • Base Sequence
  • Drug Resistance, Bacterial / genetics
  • Ethanolaminephosphotransferase / biosynthesis
  • Ethanolaminephosphotransferase / genetics*
  • Ethanolamines / chemistry*
  • Lipid A / chemistry*
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Neisseria gonorrhoeae / drug effects*
  • Neisseria gonorrhoeae / genetics

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides
  • Ethanolamines
  • Lipid A
  • phosphorylethanolamine
  • Ethanolaminephosphotransferase