Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0014118 (endocarditis)
 15,629 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The importance of viridans streptococci as agents of serious extra-oral diseases, including endocarditis, is now recognized. We have tested the hypothesis that the ability to utilize sialic acid as a nutrient source may play a role in the proliferation of these organisms. The type strains of the 15 presently recognized species of viridans streptococci and two clinical isolates-S. oralis (AR3), isolated from a patient with infective endocarditis, and S. intermedius (UNS35), a brain abscess isolate-were studied for their ability to utilize sialic acid. Only S. oralis, S. sanguis, S. gordonii, S. mitis ("oralis group") S. intermedius, S. anginosus, S. constellatus ("milleri group"), and S. defectivus ("nutritionally variant group") were able to use sialic acid (N-acetylneuraminic acid) efficiently as a sole carbon source. Formate, acetate, and ethanol were produced as the major metabolic end-products of sialic acid metabolism, while corresponding glucose-grown cultures produced lactate as the major metabolic end-product. Utilization of sialic acid was independent of the production of sialidase. Cell-free extracts of sialic acid-grown cultures expressed elevated levels of N-acetylneuraminate pyruvate-lyase (NPL; the first enzyme in the intracellular catabolism of sialic acid) and N-acetylglucosamine-6-phosphate (GlcNAc-6-P) deacetylase and glucosamine-6-phosphate (GlcN-6-P) deaminase (enzymes involved in the intracellular catabolism of N-acetylglucosamine). These activities were repressed by growth in the presence of glucose. The intracellular fate of sialic acid, after cleavage by NPL into N-acetylmannosamine (ManNAc) and pyruvate, is uncertain, but the elevated levels of GlcNAc-6-P deacetylase and GlcN-6-P deaminase in sialic acid-grown cells suggest that phosphorylation and isomerization are possible steps in the metabolism of ManNAc to generate an intermediate common to the pathway of N-acetylglucosamine metabolism. The species of viridans streptococci that have the ability to utilize sialic acid are those most commonly associated with extra-oral diseases, and this ability is likely to play a role in the persistence and survival of these infecting organisms in vivo.
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PMID:Utilization of sialic acid by viridans streptococci. 890 24

Streptococcus oralis has emerged as one of the most important organisms of the viridans streptococcus group in terms of infections and is recognised as an agent of infective endocarditis and, in immunocompromised patients, septicaemia. The mechanisms by which this organism proliferates in vivo are unknown. However, host-derived sialic acids -- including N-acetylneuraminic acid (NeuNAc) which is present in serum and cell-associated glycoproteins -- are a potential source of fermentable carbohydrate for bacterial proliferation, especially for sialidase-producing bacteria, including S. oralis. To further elucidate the role of NeuNAc in supporting growth, this study determined the ability of S. oralis strain AR3 (isolated from a patient with infective endocarditis) to transport NeuNAc and characterised the transport system. The transport of [14C]-labelled NeuNAc into S. oralis was monitored and this transport system was induced by growth of the bacteria in the presence of the N-acetylated sugars NeuNAc, N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylmannosamine. The transport system followed typical Michaelis-Menten kinetics, with a Km of 21.0 microM and a Vmax of 2.65 nmoles of NeuNAc transported/min/mg of dry cell mass. NeuNAc transport was inhibited by the presence of exogenous N-glycolylneuraminic acid, a related sialic acid. Chlorhexidine, NaF and 2,4-dinitrophenol were potent inhibitors of the transport system, suggesting that the uptake of NeuNAc occurs via a proton motive force-dependent permease system. This is the first report of the mechanism by which NeuNAc transport occurs in pathogenic streptococci. This transport process may have relevance to the acquisition of a source of fermentable carbohydrate and thus bacterial proliferation in vivo.
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PMID:N-acetylneuraminic acid transport by Streptococcus oralis strain AR3. 1050 80