Rgg-Associated SHP Signaling Peptides Mediate Cross-Talk in Streptococci
Open Access
- 11 June 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Public Library of Science (PLoS) in PLOS ONE
- Vol. 8 (6), e66042
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0066042
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.Keywords
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