Spricigo Denis A, Cortés Pilar, Moranta David, Barbé Jordi, Bengoechea José Antonio, Lagostera Montserrat
Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Faculty of Biosciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.
Network Biomedical Research. Respiratory Diseases and Health Research Foundation Balearic Island, Joan March Hospital, Bunyola, Spain.
Int Microbiol. 2014 Sep;17(3):159-64. doi: 10.2436/20.1501.01.218.
Non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is an opportunist pathogen well adapted to the human upper respiratory tract and responsible for many respiratory diseases. In the human airway, NTHi is exposed to pollutants, such as alkylating agents, that damage its DNA. In this study, we examined the significance of genes involved in the repair of DNA alkylation damage in NTHi virulence. Two knockout mutants, tagI and mfd, encoding N³-methyladenine-DNA glycosylase I and the key protein involved in transcription-coupled repair, respectively, were constructed and their virulence in a BALB/c mice model was examined. This work shows that N³-methyladenine-DNA glycosylase I is constitutively expressed in NTHi and that it is relevant for its virulence.
不可分型流感嗜血杆菌（NTHi）是一种适应人类上呼吸道的机会致病菌，可引发多种呼吸道疾病。在人类气道中，NTHi会接触到诸如烷基化剂等污染物，这些污染物会损伤其DNA。在本研究中，我们检测了参与NTHi毒力中DNA烷基化损伤修复的基因的重要性。构建了分别编码N³-甲基腺嘌呤-DNA糖基化酶I和参与转录偶联修复的关键蛋白的两个基因敲除突变体tagI和mfd，并检测了它们在BALB/c小鼠模型中的毒力。这项工作表明，N³-甲基腺嘌呤-DNA糖基化酶I在NTHi中组成性表达，并且与它的毒力相关。
