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Journal of Bacteriology, January 2008, p. 107-111, Vol. 190, No. 1
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00852-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

The Metalloprotease of Listeria monocytogenes Is Activated by Intramolecular Autocatalysis{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Alan Pavinski Bitar, Min Cao,{ddagger} and Hélène Marquis*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853

Received 1 June 2007/ Accepted 15 October 2007

The metalloprotease (Mpl) of Listeria monocytogenes is a thermolysin-like protease that mediates the maturation of a broad-range phospholipase C, whose function contributes to the ability of this food-borne bacterial pathogen to survive intracellularly. Mpl is made as a proprotein that undergoes maturation by proteolytic cleavage of a large N-terminal prodomain. In this study, we identified the N terminus of mature Mpl and generated Mpl catalytic mutants to investigate the mechanism of Mpl maturation. We observed that Mpl activity was a prerequisite for maturation, suggesting a mechanism of autocatalysis. Furthermore, using a strain of L. monocytogenes expressing both the wild-type form and a catalytic mutant form of Mpl simultaneously, we determined that in vivo maturation of Mpl occurs exclusively by an intramolecular autocatalysis mechanism.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, VMC C5-169, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-6401. Phone: (607) 253-3273. Fax: (607) 253-3384. E-mail: hm72{at}cornell.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 26 October 2007.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.

{ddagger} Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634.

Journal of Bacteriology, January 2008, p. 107-111, Vol. 190, No. 1
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00852-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Alonzo, F. III, Port, G. C., Cao, M., Freitag, N. E. (2009). The Posttranslocation Chaperone PrsA2 Contributes to Multiple Facets of Listeria monocytogenes Pathogenesis. Infect. Immun. 77: 2612-2623 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • O'Neil, H. S., Forster, B. M., Roberts, K. L., Chambers, A. J., Bitar, A. P., Marquis, H. (2009). The Propeptide of the Metalloprotease of Listeria monocytogenes Controls Compartmentalization of the Zymogen during Intracellular Infection. J. Bacteriol. 191: 3594-3603 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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