Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33462258›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2021

Molecular analyses identifies new domains and structural differences among Streptococcus pneumoniae immune evasion proteins PspC and Hic.

Shanshan Du, Cláudia Vilhena, Samantha King, Alfredo Sahagún-Ruiz, Sven Hammerschmidt, Christine Skerka, Peter F Zipfel

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 30% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Identification ofJournal of proteome research · 2025
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  2. Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2025
    Review
  3. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.

Shanshan DuDepartment of Infection Biology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Jena, Germany.
Cláudia VilhenaDepartment of Infection Biology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Jena, Germany.
Samantha KingCenter for Microbial Pathogenesis, Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA.
Alfredo Sahagún-RuizDepartment of Infection Biology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Jena, Germany.
Sven HammerschmidtDepartment of Molecular Genetics and Infection Biology, Interfaculty Institute for Genetics and Functional Genomics, Center for Functional Genomics of Microbes, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Christine SkerkaDepartment of Infection Biology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Jena, Germany.
Peter F ZipfelDepartment of Infection Biology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Jena, Germany. peter.zipfel@leibniz-hki.de.
Leibniz-Institut für Naturstoff-Forschung und Infektionsbiologie e. V. - Hans-Knöll-Institut (HKI) · DEFriedrich Schiller University Jena · DEThe Ohio State University · USUniversidad Nacional Autónoma de México · MXUniversität Greifswald · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The PspC and Hic proteins of Streptococcus pneumoniae are some of the most variable microbial immune evasion proteins identified to date. Due to structural similarities and conserved binding profiles, it was assumed for a long time that these pneumococcal surface proteins represent a protein family comprised of eleven subgroups. Recently, however, the evaluation of more proteins revealed a greater diversity of individual proteins. In contrast to previous assumptions a pattern evaluation of six PspC and five Hic variants, each representing one of the previously defined subgroups, revealed distinct structural and likely functionally regions of the proteins, and identified nine new domains and new domain alternates. Several domains are unique to PspC and Hic variants, while other domains are also present in other virulence factors encoded by pneumococci and other bacterial pathogens. This knowledge improved pattern evaluation at the level of full-length proteins, allowed a sequence comparison at the domain level and identified domains with a modular composition. This novel strategy increased understanding of individual proteins variability and modular domain composition, enabled a structural and functional characterization at the domain level and furthermore revealed substantial structural differences between PspC and Hic proteins. Given the exceptional genomic diversity of the multifunctional PspC and Hic proteins a detailed structural and functional evaluation need to be performed at the strain level. Such knowledge will also be useful for molecular strain typing and characterizing PspC and Hic proteins from new clinical S. pneumoniae strains.

Indexed as

Bacterial ProteinsCarrier ProteinsHumansMutationPhylogenyPneumococcal InfectionsProtein BindingProtein DomainsSequence Analysis, ProteinStreptococcus pneumoniaeBacterial ProteinsCarrier ProteinsHic protein, Streptococcus pneumoniaeSpsA protein, Streptococcus pneumoniae

Identifiers

PMID33462258
PMCPMC7814132
OpenAlexW3123947525

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.