Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.5.1.5 (urease)
 7,257 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

It is well known that biofilm formation by pathogenic staphylococci on implanted medical devices leads to "chronic polymer-associated infections." Bacteria in these biofilms are more resistant to antibiotics and the immune defense system than their planktonic counterparts, which suggests that the cells in a biofilm have altered metabolic activity. To determine which genes are up-regulated in Staphylococcus aureus biofilm cells, we carried out a comparative transcriptome analysis. Biofilm growth was simulated on dialysis membranes laid on agar plates. Staphylococci were cultivated planktonically in Erlenmeyer flasks with shaking. mRNA was isolated at five time points from cells grown under both conditions and used for hybridization with DNA microarrays. The gene expression patterns of several gene groups differed under the two growth conditions. In biofilm cells, the cell envelope appeared to be a very active compartment since genes encoding binding proteins, proteins involved in the synthesis of murein and glucosaminoglycan polysaccharide intercellular adhesin, and other enzymes involved in cell envelope synthesis and function were significantly up-regulated. In addition, evidence was obtained that formate fermentation, urease activity, the response to oxidative stress, and, as a consequence thereof, acid and ammonium production are up-regulated in a biofilm. These factors might contribute to survival, persistence, and growth in a biofilm environment. Interestingly, toxins and proteases were up-regulated under planktonic growth conditions. Physiological and biochemical tests for the up-regulation of urease, formate dehydrogenase, proteases, and the synthesis of staphyloxanthin confirmed the microarray data.
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PMID:Differential gene expression profiling of Staphylococcus aureus cultivated under biofilm and planktonic conditions. 1587 Mar 58

Nitrospira are a diverse group of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria and among the environmentally most widespread nitrifiers. However, they remain scarcely studied and mostly uncultured. Based on genomic and experimental data from Nitrospira moscoviensis representing the ubiquitous Nitrospira lineage II, we identified ecophysiological traits that contribute to the ecological success of Nitrospira. Unexpectedly, N. moscoviensis possesses genes coding for a urease and cleaves urea to ammonia and CO2. Ureolysis was not observed yet in nitrite oxidizers and enables N. moscoviensis to supply ammonia oxidizers lacking urease with ammonia from urea, which is fully nitrified by this consortium through reciprocal feeding. The presence of highly similar urease genes in Nitrospira lenta from activated sludge, in metagenomes from soils and freshwater habitats, and of other ureases in marine nitrite oxidizers, suggests a wide distribution of this extended interaction between ammonia and nitrite oxidizers, which enables nitrite-oxidizing bacteria to indirectly use urea as a source of energy. A soluble formate dehydrogenase lends additional ecophysiological flexibility and allows N. moscoviensis to use formate, with or without concomitant nitrite oxidation, using oxygen, nitrate, or both compounds as terminal electron acceptors. Compared with Nitrospira defluvii from lineage I, N. moscoviensis shares the Nitrospira core metabolism but shows substantial genomic dissimilarity including genes for adaptations to elevated oxygen concentrations. Reciprocal feeding and metabolic versatility, including the participation in different nitrogen cycling processes, likely are key factors for the niche partitioning, the ubiquity, and the high diversity of Nitrospira in natural and engineered ecosystems.
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PMID:Expanded metabolic versatility of ubiquitous nitrite-oxidizing bacteria from the genus Nitrospira. 2630 44

Proteus mirabilis is an important uropathogen, featured with urinary stone formation. Formate hydrogenlyase (FHL), consisting of formate dehydrogenase H and hydrogenase for converting proton to hydrogen, has been implicated in virulence. In this study, we investigated the role of P. mirabilis FHL hydrogenase and the FHL activator, FhlA. fhlA and hyfG (encoding hydrogenase large subunit) displayed a defect in acid resistance. fhlA and hyfG mutants displayed a delay in medium deacidification compared to wild-type and ureC mutant failed to deacidify the medium. In addition, loss of fhlA or hyfG decreased urease activity in the pH range of 5-8. The reduction of urease activities in fhlA and hyfG mutants subsided gradually over the pH range and disappeared at pH 9. Furthermore, mutation of fhlA or hyfG resulted in a decrease in urinary stone formation in synthetic urine. These indicate fhlA- and hyf-mediated deacidification affected urease activity and stone formation. Finally, fhlA and hyfG mutants exhibited attenuated colonization in mice. Altogether, we found expression of fhlA and hyf confers medium deacidification via facilitating urease activity, thereby urinary stone formation and mouse colonization. The link of acid resistance to urease activity provides a potential strategy for counteracting urinary tract infections by P. mirabilis.
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PMID:Deacidification by FhlA-dependent hydrogenase is involved in urease activity and urinary stone formation in uropathogenic Proteus mirabilis. 3317 98