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Virulence determinants involved in differential host niche adaptation of Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae

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Abstract

Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae are the only pathogenic species of the genus Neisseria. Although these two species are closely related, they specialized on survival in completely different environments within the human host—the nasopharynx in the case of N. meningitidis versus the urogenital tract in the case of N. gonorrhoeae. The genetic background of these differences has not yet been determined. Here, we present a comparison of all characterized transcriptional regulators in these species, delineating analogous functions and disclosing differential functional developments of these DNA-binding proteins with a special focus on the recently characterized regulator FarR and its contribution to divergent host niche adaptation in the two Neisseria spp. Furthermore, we summarize the present knowledge on two-partner secretion systems in meningococci, highlighting their overall expression among meningococcal strains in contrast to the complete absence in gonococci. Concluding, the decisive role of these two entirely different factors in host niche adaptation of the two human pathogenic Neisseria species is depicted, illuminating another piece of the puzzle to locate the molecular basis of their differences in preferred colonization sites and pathogenicity.

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Acknowledgments

Work of the authors was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through Sonderforschungsbereich 479.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Hygiene and Microbiology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Stephanie Schielke & Matthias Frosch

  2. Septomics Research Centre, Leibniz-Institute for Natural Products Research and Infection Biology, Hans-Knoell-Institute, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Beutenbergstr. 11a, 07745, Jena, Germany

    Oliver Kurzai

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  1. Stephanie Schielke
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Correspondence to Oliver Kurzai.

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This article is published as part of a Special Issue on Pathogen Variation and Host Response in Infectious Disease.

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Schielke, S., Frosch, M. & Kurzai, O. Virulence determinants involved in differential host niche adaptation of Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae . Med Microbiol Immunol 199, 185–196 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00430-010-0150-5

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