ArticleeLife2015
An internal thioester in a pathogen surface protein mediates covalent host binding.
Article in eLife, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 55 citations in OpenAlex.
- A global survey of intramolecular isopeptide bonds.Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society · 2025Article
- Protease mimicry: Dissecting the ester bond crosslinking mechanics in bacterial adhesin proteins.Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society · 2025Article
- Single-molecule magnetic tweezers to unravel protein folding dynamics under force.Biophysical reviews · 2025Review
- The current riboswitch landscape inMicrobiology (Reading, England) · 2024Review
- Limited protection of pneumococcal vaccines against emergent Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 14/ST876 strains.Infection · 2024Article
- Article
- Domain structure and cross-linking in a giant adhesin from the Mobiluncus mulieris bacterium.Acta crystallographica. Section D, Structural biology · 2023Article
- Engineering Functional Membrane-Membrane Interfaces by InterSpy.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2023Article
- Peptide/protein-based macrocycles: from biological synthesis to biomedical applications.RSC chemical biology · 2022Review
- Large-Scale Discovery of Microbial Fibrillar Adhesins and Identification of Novel Members of Adhesive Domain Families.Journal of bacteriology · 2022Article
- An ester bond underlies the mechanical strength of a pathogen surface protein.Nature communications · 2021Article
- Article
- Genetics, Structure, and Function of Group A Streptococcal Pili.Frontiers in microbiology · 2021Review
- Molecular determinants of the mechanism and substrate specificity ofThe Journal of biological chemistry · 2019Article
- Article
- Extracellular Matrix Interactions with Gram-Positive Pathogens.Microbiology spectrum · 2019Review
- Calcium stabilizes the strongest protein fold.Nature communications · 2018Article
- A new structural class of bacterial thioester domains reveals a slipknot topology.Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society · 2018Article
- Discovery of a new Pro-Pro endopeptidase, PPEP-2, provides mechanistic insights into the differences in substrate specificity within the PPEP family.The Journal of biological chemistry · 2018Article
- Molecular mechanism of extreme mechanostability in a pathogen adhesin.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
To cause disease and persist in a host, pathogenic and commensal microbes must adhere to tissues. Colonization and infection depend on specific molecular interactions at the host-microbe interface that involve microbial surface proteins, or adhesins. To date, adhesins are only known to bind to host receptors non-covalently. Here we show that the streptococcal surface protein SfbI mediates covalent interaction with the host protein fibrinogen using an unusual internal thioester bond as a 'chemical harpoon'. This cross-linking reaction allows bacterial attachment to fibrin and SfbI binding to human cells in a model of inflammation. Thioester-containing domains are unexpectedly prevalent in Gram-positive bacteria, including many clinically relevant pathogens. Our findings support bacterial-encoded covalent binding as a new molecular principle in host-microbe interactions. This represents an as yet unexploited target to treat bacterial infection and may also offer novel opportunities for engineering beneficial interactions.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.