Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington and Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle.
Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle.
J Infect Dis. 2018 Mar 5;217(6):983-987. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jix646.
Group B streptococci (GBS) are Gram-positive bacteria that are a leading cause of neonatal infections. Most invasive isolates are β-hemolytic, and hemolytic activity is critical for GBS virulence. Although nonhemolytic GBS strains are occasionally isolated, they are often thought to be virulence attenuated. In this study, we show that a nonhemolytic GBS strain (GB37) isolated from a septic neonate exhibits hypervirulence. Substitution of tryptophan to leucine (W297L) in the sensor histidine kinase CovS results in constitutive kinase signaling, leading to decreased hemolysis and increased activity of the GBS hyaluronidase, HylB. These results describe how nonpigmented and nonhemolytic GBS strains can exhibit hypervirulence.
B 群链球菌(GBS)是一种革兰氏阳性细菌,是导致新生儿感染的主要原因。大多数侵袭性分离株为β-溶血性,溶血活性对 GBS 的毒力至关重要。尽管偶尔会分离出非溶血性 GBS 株,但通常认为它们的毒力减弱。在这项研究中,我们表明,从败血症新生儿中分离出的非溶血性 GBS 株(GB37)表现出高致病性。在传感器组氨酸激酶 CovS 中的色氨酸替换为亮氨酸(W297L)导致组成型激酶信号转导,导致溶血减少和 GBS 透明质酸酶 HylB 的活性增加。这些结果描述了非色素和非溶血性 GBS 株如何表现出高致病性。