1. Rgg-Associated SHP Signaling Peptides Mediate Cross-Talk in Streptococci.
- Author
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Fleuchot, Betty, Guillot, Alain, Mézange, Christine, Besset, Colette, Chambellon, Emilie, Monnet, Véronique, and Gardan, Rozenn
- Subjects
CELLULAR signal transduction ,STREPTOCOCCUS ,QUORUM sensing ,GENETIC regulation ,GENETIC transcription ,PEPTIDOMIMETICS ,MASS spectrometry - Abstract
We described a quorum-sensing mechanism in the streptococci genus involving a short hydrophobic peptide (SHP), which acts as a pheromone, and a transcriptional regulator belonging to the Rgg family. The shp/rgg genes, found in nearly all streptococcal genomes and in several copies in some, have been classified into three groups. We used a genetic approach to evaluate the functionality of the SHP/Rgg quorum-sensing mechanism, encoded by three selected shp/rgg loci, in pathogenic and non-pathogenic streptococci. We characterized the mature form of each SHP pheromone by mass-spectrometry. We produced synthetic peptides corresponding to these mature forms, and used them to study functional complementation and cross-talk between these different SHP/Rgg systems. We demonstrate that a SHP pheromone of one system can influence the activity of a different system. Interestingly, this does not seem to be dependent on the SHP/Rgg group and cross-talk between pathogenic and non-pathogenic streptococci is observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013
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