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Current Medicinal Chemistry

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 0929-8673
ISSN (Online): 1875-533X

Review Article

The Role of Universal Stress Proteins in Bacterial Infections

Author(s): Andrew O’Connor and Siobhán McClean*

Volume 24, Issue 36, 2017

Page: [3970 - 3979] Pages: 10

DOI: 10.2174/0929867324666170124145543

Price: $65

Abstract

Universal stress proteins are ubiquitously expressed in bacteria, archaea and plants and other eukaryotes. A general property of USPs is their role in adaptation of bacteria to oxidative stress, high temperature, low pH and/or hypoxia. There is increasing evidence that these proteins facilitate the adaption of bacterial pathogens to the human host environment, thereby facilitating colonisation and pathogenicity. USPs in Mycobacterium tuberculosis are well studied and may play a role in latency of tuberculosis. USP expressed by Acinetobacter baumannii, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium are involved in survival in vivo, while USPs expressed in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Porphyromonas gingivalis are involved in biofilm formation. Burkholderia cepacia complex and Staphylococcus aureus express USPs that play roles in host cell or host protein adhesion. There is also increasing evidence that USPs also bind to antimicrobial agents and may be ideal candidates to target in the future design of new anti-virulence strategies.

Keywords: Universal stress proteins, UspA, latency, hypoxia, oxidative stress, bacterial infection.


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