| Title | Functional properties of the major outer membrane protein in Stenotrophomonas maltophilia |
|---|---|
| Author | Yih-Yuan Chen1,2, Han-Chiang Wu1, Juey-Wen Lin3, and Shu-Fen Weng1* |
| Address | 1Institute of Molecular Biology, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan, 2Department of Internal Medicine, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chia-Yi 600, Taiwan, 3Institute of Biochemistry, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan |
| Bibliography | Journal of Microbiology, 53(8),535-543, 2015, |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12275-015-5202-5 |
| Key Words | outer membrane protein, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, pathogenesis |
| Abstract | Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an opportunistic pathogen that is closely associated with high morbidity and mortality in debilitated and immunocompromised individuals. Therefore, to investigate the pathogenesis mechanism is urgently required. However, there are very few studies to evaluate the functional properties of outer membrane protein, which may contribute to the pathogenesis in S. maltophilia. In this study, three abundant proteins in the outer membrane fraction of S. maltophilia were identified by liquid chromatography- tandem mass spectrometry as OmpW1, MopB, and a hypothetical protein. MopB, a member of the OmpA family, was firstly chosen for functional investigation in this study because many OmpA-family proteins are known to be involved in pathogenesis and offer potential as vaccines. Membrane fractionation analyses demonstrated that MopB was indeed the most abundant outer membrane protein (OMP) in S. maltophilia. For functional studies, the mopB mutant of S. maltophilia (SmMopB) was constructed by insertional mutation. MopB deficiency resulted in a change in the protein composition of OMPs and altered the architecture of the outer membrane. The SmMopB strain exhibited reduced cytotoxicity toward L929 fibroblasts and was more sensitive to numerous stresses, including human serum, sodium dodecyl sulfate, and hydrogen peroxide compared with wildtype S. maltophilia. These results suggest that MopB may be a good candidate for the design of vaccines or anti-MopB drugs for controlling serious nosocomial infections of multidrug- resistant S. maltophilia, especially in immunosuppressed patients. |