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Journal of Bacteriology, June 2009, p. 3544-3552, Vol. 191, No. 11
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01755-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Group B Streptococcus Pullulanase Crystal Structures in the Context of a Novel Strategy for Vaccine Development{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Louise J. Gourlay,1 Isabella Santi,2 Alfredo Pezzicoli,2 Guido Grandi,2 Marco Soriani,2 and Martino Bolognesi1*

Department of Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology, CNR-INFM and CIMAINA, University of Milan, Milan 20133, Italy,1 Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Srl., Siena, Italy2

Received 16 December 2008/ Accepted 20 March 2009

The group B streptococcus type I pullulanase (SAP) is a class 13 glycoside hydrolase that is anchored to the bacterial cell surface via a conserved C-terminal anchoring motif and involved in {alpha}-glucan degradation. Recent in vitro functional studies have shown that SAP is immunogenic in humans and that anti-SAP sera derived from immunized animals impair both group A and group B streptococcus pullulanase activities, suggesting that in vivo immunization with this antigen could prevent streptococcal colonization. To further investigate the putative role of SAP in bacterial pathogenesis, we carried out functional studies and found that recombinant SAP binds to human cervical epithelial cells. Furthermore, with a view of using SAP as a vaccine candidate, we present high-resolution crystal structure analyses of an N-terminally truncated form of SAP lacking the carbohydrate binding module but containing the catalytic domain and displaying glycosidase hydrolase activity, both in its apo form and in complex with maltotetraose, at resolutions of 2.1 and 2.4 Å, respectively.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Milan, Via Celoria 26, I-20133 Milan, Italy. Phone: 39 02 5031 4893. Fax: 39 02 5031 4895. E-mail: martino.bolognesi{at}unimi.it

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 27 March 2009.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article is available at http://jb.asm.org/.

Journal of Bacteriology, June 2009, p. 3544-3552, Vol. 191, No. 11
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01755-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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