Dimerisation and structural integrity of Heparin Binding Hemagglutinin A from Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Implications for bacterial agglutination
- Esposito, Carla
- Carullo, Paola
- Pedone, Emilia
- Graziano, Giuseppe
- Vecchio, Pompea Del
- Berisio, Rita
DOIAbstract
AbstractHeparin Binding Hemagglutinin A (HBHA) is hitherto the sole virulence factor associated with tuberculosis dissemination from the lungs, the site of primary infection, to epithelial cells. We have previously reported the solution structure of HBHA, a dimeric and elongated molecule. Since oligomerisation of HBHA is associated with its ability to induce bacterial agglutination, we investigated this process using experimental and modelling techniques. We here identified a short segment of HBHA whose presence is mandatory for the stability of folded conformation, whose denaturation is a reversible two-state process. Our data suggest that agglutination-driven cell–cell interactions do not occur via association of HBHA monomers, nor via as...
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