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Streptococcus pneumoniae Surface Adhesin PfbA Exhibits Host Specificity by Binding to Human Serum Albumin but Not Bovine, Rabbit and Porcine Serum Albumins

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Abstract

PfbA (Plasmin(ogen) and Fibronectin Binding protein A) is an adhesin present on the surface of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Initial studies characterized PfbA as plasmin(ogen) and fibronectin binding protein and later it was found that it binds with many other proteins of the extracellular matrix such as fibrinogen, collagen and laminin. It also binds to blood protein human serum albumin (HSA). Interestingly, PfbA exhibits no binding with serum albumins of bovine (BSA), rabbit (RSA) and porcine (PSA) which are sequentially and structurally homologous to HSA. This suggests that PfbA is likely involved in host specificity. Therefore, to get more insights into this aspect, a detailed analysis, which includes the interaction of rPfbA with HSA/BSA/RSA/PSA at different pHs by bio-layer interferometry, comparison of sequences and surface electrostatic potential of HSA/BSA/RSA/PSA, lysine modification of HSA by succinylation and subsequent interaction analysis of succinylated HSA with rPfbA and the secondary structural content estimation by FT-IR spectroscopy was carried out. Since large protrusions are another important geometric feature of protein surfaces, the property was also analyzed for HSA/BSA/RSA/PSA. The results of the above studies clearly suggest that the rPfbA exhibits host specificity by selectively binding only to HSA and not with its homologous BSA/RSA/PSA. Since the three dimensional structures of these albumins are highly similar, it is likely that rPfbA utilizes the differences in the surface electrostatic charge in combination with surface protrusions of HSA/BSA/RSA/PSA for the selective molecular recognition process and this feature may be important in the pathogenesis of pneumococcal infection.

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Acknowledgements

KP gratefully acknowledges the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Government of India for the financial support in the form of Grant (No. EMR/2016/000891). KP thanks DST-FIST, Government of India for the DLS and FT-IR equipments sanctioned to the department (No. SR/FST/LSII-037/2014 (C) dt. 29.03.2016). SS thanks SERB for the Fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Advanced Study in Crystallography and Biophysics, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai, 600 025, India

    Sreejanani Sankar & Karthe Ponnuraj

  2. Department of Oral and Molecular Microbiology, Osaka University Graduate School of Dentistry, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Masaya Yamaguchi & Shigetada Kawabata

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  1. Sreejanani Sankar
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  2. Masaya Yamaguchi
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  4. Karthe Ponnuraj
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Correspondence to Karthe Ponnuraj.

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Sankar, S., Yamaguchi, M., Kawabata, S. et al. Streptococcus pneumoniae Surface Adhesin PfbA Exhibits Host Specificity by Binding to Human Serum Albumin but Not Bovine, Rabbit and Porcine Serum Albumins. Protein J 39, 1–9 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10930-019-09875-y

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