Kroll J S, Langford P R, Wilks K E, Keil A D
Department of Paediatrics, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, St Mary's Hospital, London, UK.
Microbiology (Reading). 1995 Sep;141 ( Pt 9):2271-9. doi: 10.1099/13500872-141-9-2271.
Copper- and zinc-containing superoxide dismutases ([Cu,Zn]-SODs) are generally considered almost exclusively eukaryotic enzymes, protecting the cytosol and extracellular compartments of higher organisms from damage by oxygen free-radicals. The recent description of a few examples of bacterial forms of the enzyme, located in the periplasm of different Gram-negative micro-organisms, prompted a re-evaluation of this general perception. A PCR-based approach has been developed and used successfully to identify bacterial genes encoding [Cu,Zn]-SOD in a wide range of important human and animal pathogens-members of the Haemophilus, Actinobacillus and Pasteurella (HAP) group, and Neisseria meningitidis. Comparison of [Cu,Zn]-SOD peptide sequences found in Haemophilus ducreyi, Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, Pasteurella multocida, and N. meningitidis with previously described bacterial proteins and examples of eukaryotic [Cu,Zn]-SOD has shown that the bacterial proteins constitute a distinct family apparently widely separated in evolutionary terms from the eukaryotic examples. The widespread occurrence of [Cu,Zn]-SOD in the periplasm of bacterial pathogens, appropriately located to dismute exogenously derived superoxide radical anions, suggests that this enzyme may play a role in the interactive biology of organisms with their hosts and so contribute to their capacity to cause disease.
含铜和锌的超氧化物歧化酶（[Cu,Zn]-SODs）通常几乎被认为是仅存在于真核生物中的酶，可保护高等生物的细胞质和细胞外区室免受氧自由基的损伤。最近对位于不同革兰氏阴性微生物周质中的几种细菌形式的该酶的描述，促使人们对这一普遍认知进行重新评估。一种基于聚合酶链反应（PCR）的方法已被开发出来，并成功用于在多种重要的人类和动物病原体中鉴定编码[Cu,Zn]-SOD的细菌基因，这些病原体包括嗜血杆菌属、放线杆菌属和巴斯德氏菌属（HAP组）以及脑膜炎奈瑟菌的成员。将在杜克雷嗜血杆菌、胸膜肺炎放线杆菌、伴放线放线杆菌、多杀巴斯德氏菌和脑膜炎奈瑟菌中发现的[Cu,Zn]-SOD肽序列与先前描述的细菌蛋白以及真核生物[Cu,Zn]-SOD的实例进行比较，结果表明这些细菌蛋白构成了一个独特的家族，从进化角度来看显然与真核生物的实例有很大差异。[Cu,Zn]-SOD广泛存在于细菌病原体的周质中，其位置适合于歧化外源产生的超氧自由基阴离子，这表明该酶可能在生物体与宿主的相互作用生物学中发挥作用，从而有助于它们致病的能力。
