Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:6.3.4.6 (urease)
7,490 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Persistent colonization of mucosal surfaces by bacteria in the mammalian host requires concerted expression of colonization factors, depending on the environmental conditions. Helicobacter hepaticus is a urease-positive pathogen that colonizes the intestinal and hepatobiliary tracts of rodents. Here it is reported that urease expression of H. hepaticus is iron repressed by the transcriptional regulator Fur. Iron restriction of growth medium resulted in a doubling of urease activity in wild-type H. hepaticus strain ATCC 51449 and was accompanied by increased levels of urease subunit proteins and ureA mRNA. Insertional inactivation of the fur gene abolished iron-responsive repression of urease activity, whereas inactivation of the perR gene did not affect iron-responsive regulation of urease activity. The iron-responsive promoter element was identified directly upstream of the H. hepaticus ureA gene. Recombinant H. hepaticus Fur protein bound to this ureA promoter region in a metal-dependent matter, and binding resulted in the protection of a 41-bp, Fur box-containing operator sequence located at positions -35 to -75 upstream of the transcription start site. In conclusion, H. hepaticus Fur controls urease expression at the transcriptional level in response to iron availability. This represents a novel type of urease regulation in ureolytic bacteria and extends the already diverse regulatory repertoire of the Fur protein.
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PMID:Iron-responsive repression of urease expression in Helicobacter hepaticus is mediated by the transcriptional regulator Fur. 1710 56

Nickel is a cofactor for various microbial enzymes, yet as a trace element, its scavenging is challenging. In the case of the pathogen Helicobacter pylori, nickel is essential for the survival in the human stomach, because it is the cofactor of the important virulence factor urease. While nickel transport across the cytoplasmic membrane is accomplished by the nickel permease NixA, the mechanism by which nickel traverses the outer membrane (OM) of this Gram-negative bacterium is unknown. Import of iron-siderophores and cobalamin through the bacterial OM is carried out by specific receptors energized by the TonB/ExbB/ExbD machinery. In this study, we show for the first time that H. pylori utilizes TonB/ExbB/ExbD for nickel uptake in addition to iron acquisition. We have identified the nickel-regulated protein FrpB4, homologous to TonB-dependent proteins, as an OM receptor involved in nickel uptake. We demonstrate that ExbB/ExbD/TonB and FrpB4 deficient bacteria are unable to efficiently scavenge nickel at low pH. This condition mimics those encountered by H. pylori during stomach colonization, under which nickel supply and full urease activity are essential to combat acidity. We anticipate that this nickel scavenging system is not restricted to H. pylori, but will be represented more largely among Gram-negative bacteria.
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PMID:Novel nickel transport mechanism across the bacterial outer membrane energized by the TonB/ExbB/ExbD machinery. 1723 22

In this study, we show that berberine chloride (BBR) has antimicrobial activities against all 43 tested strains of Staphylococcus aureus, an important human and animal pathogen. However, the response mechanisms of S. aureus to BBR are still poorly understood. Affymetrix GeneChips were used to determine the global transcription of S. aureus triggered by treatment with subinhibitory concentrations of BBR. 468 genes were up-regulated and 262 genes were down-regulated upon exposure to BBR. There was elevated transcription of various transporter genes, including genes involved in multidrug resistance, members of the multidrug and toxin extrusion family, the ferrous iron transporter, the amino acid transporter, the Na(+)/H(+) antiporter, and the potassium cation transporter. Measurements of active transport were used to demonstrate a phenotypic correlation between efflux transporter overexpression and inhibition of BBR uptake. Furthermore, BBR induced the expression of urease genes, sortase enzyme, and iron-regulated surface determinant genes, but repressed transcription of a gene encoding arylamine N-acetyltransferase activity (N315-SA2490). To our knowledge, this is the first analysis of a genome-wide transcription profile of S. aureus cells in response to BBR treatment. These results will pave the way to exploring the mechanisms of BBR against S. aureus.
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PMID:Global transcriptional profiles of Staphylococcus aureus treated with berberine chloride. 1817 90

The gram-negative enteric bacterium Proteus mirabilis is a frequent cause of urinary tract infections in individuals with long-term indwelling catheters or with complicated urinary tracts (e.g., due to spinal cord injury or anatomic abnormality). P. mirabilis bacteriuria may lead to acute pyelonephritis, fever, and bacteremia. Most notoriously, this pathogen uses urease to catalyze the formation of kidney and bladder stones or to encrust or obstruct indwelling urinary catheters. Here we report the complete genome sequence of P. mirabilis HI4320, a representative strain cultured in our laboratory from the urine of a nursing home patient with a long-term (> or =30 days) indwelling urinary catheter. The genome is 4.063 Mb long and has a G+C content of 38.88%. There is a single plasmid consisting of 36,289 nucleotides. Annotation of the genome identified 3,685 coding sequences and seven rRNA loci. Analysis of the sequence confirmed the presence of previously identified virulence determinants, as well as a contiguous 54-kb flagellar regulon and 17 types of fimbriae. Genes encoding a potential type III secretion system were identified on a low-G+C-content genomic island containing 24 intact genes that appear to encode all components necessary to assemble a type III secretion system needle complex. In addition, the P. mirabilis HI4320 genome possesses four tandem copies of the zapE metalloprotease gene, genes encoding six putative autotransporters, an extension of the atf fimbrial operon to six genes, including an mrpJ homolog, and genes encoding at least five iron uptake mechanisms, two potential type IV secretion systems, and 16 two-component regulators.
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PMID:Complete genome sequence of uropathogenic Proteus mirabilis, a master of both adherence and motility. 1837 54

The acidic gastric environment of mammals can be chronically colonized by pathogenic Helicobacter species, which use the nickel-dependent urea-degrading enzyme urease to confer acid resistance. Nickel availability in the mammal host is low, being mostly restricted to vegetarian dietary sources, and thus Helicobacter species colonizing carnivores may be subjected to episodes of nickel deficiency and associated acid sensitivity. The aim of this study was to investigate how these Helicobacter species have adapted to the nickel-restricted diet of their carnivorous host. Three carnivore-colonizing Helicobacter species express a second functional urea-degrading urease enzyme (UreA2B2), which functions as adaptation to nickel deficiency. UreA2B2 was not detected in seven other Helicobacter species, and is in Helicobacter mustelae only expressed in nickel-restricted conditions, and its expression was higher in iron-rich conditions. In contrast to the standard urease UreAB, UreA2B2 does not require activation by urease or hydrogenase accessory proteins, which mediate nickel incorporation into these enzymes. Activity of either UreAB or UreA2B2 urease allowed survival of a severe acid shock in the presence of urea, demonstrating a functional role for UreA2B2 in acid resistance. Pathogens often express colonization factors which are adapted to their host. The UreA2B2 urease could represent an example of pathogen adaptation to the specifics of the diet of their carnivorous host, rather than to the host itself.
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PMID:Inverse nickel-responsive regulation of two urease enzymes in the gastric pathogen Helicobacter mustelae. 1856 83

Slowly growing, non-chromogenic mycobacteria were isolated from striped barombi mbo cichlids (Stomatepia mariae) maintained at the London Zoo Aquarium, UK. The isolates could be differentiated from other slowly growing, non-pigmented mycobacteria by a combination of phenotypic features including their inability to grow at 37 degrees C, positive tests for heat-stable catalase, tellurite reduction and arylsulfatase activity, and the absence of urease activity, Tween 80 hydrolysis, nitrate reductase, iron uptake and semiquantitative catalase. The almost full-length 16S rRNA gene sequence, together with partial sequences from the 65 kDa heat-shock protein (hsp65) and the beta-subunit of the bacterial RNA polymerase (rpoB) genes and the 16S-23S internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS 1) region were identical for all three novel strains, but distinct from those of all known mycobacterial species. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences placed the novel isolates within the slowly growing mycobacteria group in close proximity to Mycobacterium florentinum. Based on genotypic and phenotypic findings, it is proposed that these isolates represent a novel species of the genus Mycobacterium, for which the name Mycobacterium stomatepiae sp. nov. is proposed with strain T11(T) (=DSM 45059(T)=CIP 109275(T)=NCIMB 14252(T)) as the type strain.
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PMID:Mycobacterium stomatepiae sp. nov., a slowly growing, non-chromogenic species isolated from fish. 1906 66

Tsukamurella pulmonis is an aerobic actinomycete. We report a catheter-related bacteremia of T. pulmonis. A 39 yr-old male with ALL was hospitalized to receive bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Although the patient developed a high fever at the 7th hospital day (HD), it subsided with vancomycin treatment, and he received BMT at 9th HD. Fever resurged at 16th HD despite sustained treatment with vancomycin, meropenem, and amphotericin B, but subsided with removal of Hickman catheter (HC) at 19th HD. Three sets of blood cultures comprising one from the HC and two from venipunctures were taken at 7th, 16th, and 19th HD, and the distal tip of the HC was also cultured. The aerobic vials of all 3 HC-withdrawn blood cultures and one peripheral blood culture taken at 19HD and the HC tip culture grew long, straight, thin gram-positive rods that were positive on modified Kinyoun stain. This organism showed tiny, rough, grey colonies after 3-day incubation and grew to large flat colonies when incubation was extended. It was catalase-positive, urease-positive, and alkaline-slant/alkaline-deep on triple sugar iron agar, and hydrolyzed hypoxanthine. The sequence of 1,296 base pairs of 16S rRNA of this organism showed a 100.0% homology with the published sequence of T. pulmonis DSM 44142T. To our knowledge, this is the first report of T. pulmonis bacteremia in Korea.
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PMID:[A case of catheter-related bacteremia of Tsukamurella pulmonis]. 1926 77

Despite elegant regulatory mechanisms, iron deficiency anemia (IDA) remains one of the most common nutritional deficiencies of mankind. Iron deficiency is the result of an interplay between increased host requirements, limited external supply, and increased blood loss. When related to increased physiologic needs associated with normal development, iron deficiency is designated physiologic or nutritional. By contrast, pathological iron deficiency, with the exception of gross menorrhagia, is most often the result of gastrointestinal disease associated with abnormal blood loss or malabsorption. If gastroenterologic evaluation fails to disclose a likely cause of IDA, or in patients refractory to oral iron treatment, screening for celiac disease (anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies), autoimmune gastritis (gastrin, anti-parietal or anti-intrinsic factor antibodies), and Helicobacter pylori (IgG antibodies and urease breath test) is recommended. Recent studies indicate that 20-27% of patients with unexplained IDA have autoimmune gastritis, about 50% have evidence of active H. pylori infection, and 4-6% have celiac disease. The implications for abnormal iron absorption of celiac disease or autoimmune gastritis are obvious. In patients with unexplained IDA and H. pylori infection, cure of refractory IDA by H. pylori eradication offers strong evidence for a cause-and-effect relation between H. pylori infection and unexplained IDA. Stratification by age cohorts in autoimmune gastritis implies a disease presenting as IDA many years before the establishment of clinical cobalamin deficiency. It is likely caused by an autoimmune process triggered by antigenic mimicry between H. pylori epitopes and major autoantigens of the gastric mucosa. Recognition of the respective roles of H. pylori and autoimmune gastritis in the pathogenesis of iron deficiency may have a strong impact on the diagnostic workup and management of unexplained, or refractory IDA.
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PMID:Iron deficiency, Helicobacter infection and gastritis. 1990 46

Helicobacter pylori is a spiral Gram-negative microaerophilic bacterium. It is unique and distinctive among various bacterial pathogens for its ability to persist in the extreme acidic environment of human stomachs. To address and identify changes in the proteome of H. pylori in response to low pH, we have used a proteomic approach to study the protein expression of H. pylori under neutral (pH 7) and acidic (pH 5) conditions. Global protein-expression profiles of H. pylori under acid stress were analysed by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-DE) followed by liquid chromatography (LC)-nanoESI-mass spectrometry (MS)/MS and bioinformatics database analysis. Among the proteins differentially expressed under acidic condition, a non-heme iron-containing ferritin of H. pylori (HP-ferritin) was found to be consistently upregulated at pH 5 as compared to pH 7. It was also found that HP-ferritin can switch from an iron-storage protein with ferroxidase activity to a DNA-binding/protection function under in vitro conditions upon exposure to acidic environment. Prokaryotic ferritins, such as non-heme iron-binding HP-ferritin with dual functionality reported herein, may play a significant urease-independent role in the acid adaptation of H. pylori under physiological conditions in vivo.
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PMID:Upregulation of a non-heme iron-containing ferritin with dual ferroxidase and DNA-binding activities in Helicobacter pylori under acid stress. 1995 3

The genomes of Helicobacter species colonizing the mammalian gastric mucosa (like Helicobacter pylori) contain a large number of genes annotated as iron acquisition genes but only few nickel acquisition genes, which contrasts with the central position of nickel in the urease-mediated acid resistance of these gastric pathogens. In this study we have investigated the predicted iron and nickel acquisition systems of the ferret pathogen Helicobacter mustelae. The expression of the outer membrane protein-encoding frpB2 gene was iron and Fur repressed, whereas the expression of the ABC transporter genes fecD and ceuE was iron and Fur independent. The inactivation of the two tonB genes showed that TonB1 is required for heme utilization, whereas the absence of TonB2 only marginally affected iron-dependent growth but led to reduced cellular nickel content and urease activity. The inactivation of the fecD and ceuE ABC transporter genes did not affect iron levels but resulted in significantly reduced urease activity and cellular nickel content. Surprisingly, the inactivation of the nixA nickel transporter gene affected cellular nickel content and urease activity only when combined with the inactivation of other nickel acquisition genes, like fecD or ceuE. The FecDE ABC transporter is not specific for nickel, since an fecD mutant also showed reduced cellular cobalt levels and increased cobalt resistance. We conclude that the H. mustelae fecDE and ceuE genes encode an ABC transporter involved in nickel and cobalt acquisition, which works independently of the nickel transporter NixA, while TonB2 is required primarily for nickel acquisition, with TonB1 being required for heme utilization.
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PMID:An ABC transporter and a TonB ortholog contribute to Helicobacter mustelae nickel and cobalt acquisition. 2064 57


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