Newly Described Surface Structures and Adhesion Strategies of the Pathogenic Neisseria
Rosanna Leuzzi, Laura Serino, Davide Serruto and Mariagrazia Pizza
from: Neisseria: Molecular Mechanisms of Pathogenesis (Edited by: Caroline Genco and Lee Wetzler). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2010)
Abstract
N. meningitidis and N. gonorrhoeae have evolved numerous surface-exposed proteins that mediate interaction with the host. Host?pathogen interaction is a multifactorial process and several surface structures have been shown to play a role in this process, suggesting that interactions mediated by different molecules are important in determining tissue tropism and invasive versus carriage potentials. Porins, type IV pili and opacity proteins are the major objects of investigation of neisserial pathogenesis and recent studies have improved our understanding of their functionality at a molecular level of detail. In the last few years, availability of neisserial genome sequences has enabled the identification of new surface proteins with a potential role as adhesins and virulence factors. Characterization of these new proteins have extended our knowledge on the multiple strategies evolved by pathogenic Neisseriae to infect the host read more ...
