ArticleThe Journal of clinical investigation2016
Pneumococcal meningitis is promoted by single cocci expressing pilus adhesin RrgA.
Article in The Journal of clinical investigation, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- The truncated major pilin subunit SBP2' contributes toApplied and environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Neuraminidase A controls pneumococcal recognition and fate: deficiency enhances immune sensing and intracellular survival, while treatment promotes phagocytic clearance.Immunotherapy advances · 2026Article
- Intranasal vaccination with probiotic Escherichia coli membrane vesicles displaying pneumococcal capsular polysaccharides elicits mucosal immunity.NPJ vaccines · 2025Article
- Stem cell-derived brain-like endothelial cells to interrogateVirulence · 2025Article
- Streptococcus pneumoniae epidemiology, pathogenesis and control.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2025Review
- Understanding the mechanisms ofTissue barriers · 2025Review
- Review
- The hypervirulent Group B Streptococcus HvgA adhesin promotes central nervous system invasion through transcellular crossing of the choroid plexus.Fluids and barriers of the CNS · 2024Article
- Advancements in strategies for overcoming the blood-brain barrier to deliver brain-targeted drugs.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2024Review
- Pilus ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2023Review
- Bacterial meningitis in Africa.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Review
- Differences in genetic flux in invasiveHeliyon · 2022Article
- Article
- Differential Ubiquitination as an Effective Strategy Employed by the Blood-Brain Barrier for Prevention of Bacterial Transcytosis.Journal of bacteriology · 2022Article
- Pyruvate Oxidase as a Key Determinant of Pneumococcal Viability during Transcytosis across Brain Endothelium.Journal of bacteriology · 2021Article
- A Small Non-Coding RNA Modulates Expression of Pilus-1 Type inMicroorganisms · 2021Article
- Transcriptomic analysis of human brain microvascular endothelial cells exposed to laminin binding protein (adhesion lipoprotein) and Streptococcus pneumoniae.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Neuronal death in pneumococcal meningitis is triggered by pneumolysin and RrgA interactions with β-actin.PLoS pathogens · 2021Article
- Review
- Silica-coated phosphorescent nanoprobes for selective cell targeting and dynamic bioimaging of pathogen-host cell interactions.Chemical communications (Cambridge, England) · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is the primary cause of bacterial meningitis. Pneumococcal bacteria penetrates the blood-brain barrier (BBB), but the bacterial factors that enable this process are not known. Here, we determined that expression of pneumococcal pilus-1, which includes the pilus adhesin RrgA, promotes bacterial penetration through the BBB in a mouse model. S. pneumoniae that colonized the respiratory epithelium and grew in the bloodstream were chains of variable lengths; however, the pneumococci that entered the brain were division-competent, spherical, single cocci that expressed adhesive RrgA-containing pili. The cell division protein DivIVA, which is required for an ovoid shape, was localized at the poles and septum of pneumococcal chains of ovoid, nonseparated bacteria, but was absent in spherical, single cocci. In the bloodstream, a small percentage of pneumococci appeared as piliated, RrgA-expressing, DivIVA-negative single cocci, suggesting that only a minority of S. pneumoniae are poised to cross the BBB. Together, our data indicate that small bacterial cell size, which is signified by the absence of DivIVA, and the presence of an adhesive RrgA-containing pilus-1 mediate pneumococcal passage from the bloodstream through the BBB into the brain to cause lethal meningitis.
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