The global transcriptional regulator MgaSpn affects the virulence of Streptococcus pneumoniae by regulating PcpA.

Publisher: BioMed Central Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 100966981 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1471-2180 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14712180 NLM ISO Abbreviation: BMC Microbiol Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: London : BioMed Central, [2001-

Streptococcus pneumoniae*/pathogenicity ; Streptococcus pneumoniae*/genetics ; Streptococcus pneumoniae*/metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial* ; Bacterial Proteins*/genetics ; Bacterial Proteins*/metabolism ; Virulence Factors*/genetics ; Virulence Factors*/metabolism ; Transcription Factors*/metabolism ; Transcription Factors*/genetics; Virulence ; Pneumococcal Infections/microbiology ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Animals ; Mice ; Iron/metabolism ; Humans ; Phosphorylcholine/metabolism ; Protein Binding

Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: All animal experiments described in this study were approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of Chongqing Medical University (reference number: IACUC-CQMU-2024-0512) and were performed in strict accordance with the regulations of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. We euthanized the mice using cervicaldislocation. With correct manipulation techniques, the mice were killed by rapidly dislodging their cervical vertebrae from the spine and mice were anesthetized before execution. Mice were anesthetized by intraperitoneal injection of 1% sodium pentobarbital at a dose of 50 mg/kg. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
The global transcriptional regulator MgaSpn is a significant virulence factor of Streptococcus pneumoniae. In our previous study, we found that MgaSpn is a regulator of bacterial virulence by modulating the levels of phosphorylcholine (ChoP) and capsular polysaccharides (CPS) on the surface of S. pneumoniae. Here, we report for the first time that pcpA expression was significantly increased in mgaSpn deletion strains and significantly decreased when mgaSpn was overexpressed. Electrophoretic mobility-shift and DNase I footprinting assays confirmed that MgaSpn interacts with the pcpA promoter (P pcpA ) at two specific binding sites. Virulence experiments demonstrated that the interaction between MgaSpn and PcpA is necessary for pneumococcal colonization and invasive infection. Western blot analysis indicated that iron concentration can influences the regulation of PcpA expression via MgaSpn. In summary, these results revealed that MgaSpn regulates PcpA and plays a significant role in pneumococcal pathogenesis.
(© 2025. The Author(s).)

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Keywords: Streptococcus pneumoniae; pcpA; Iron levels; MgaSpn

0 (Bacterial Proteins)
0 (Virulence Factors)
0 (Transcription Factors)
E1UOL152H7 (Iron)
107-73-3 (Phosphorylcholine)

Date Created: 20250528 Date Completed: 20250528 Latest Revision: 20250601

20250601

PMC12117962

10.1186/s12866-025-04047-8

40437371