Resistance to phagocytosis in Streptococcus pyogenes

Phagocytosis of Streptococcus pyogenes is complement dependent. However, the cell wall-associated M protein, which exists in >100 different serotypes (M types), enables the bacteria to evade phagocytosis. To analyze the mechanisms by which M protein confers this ability we used, as model systems, two representative M proteins, the M22 and M5 proteins, which have properties typical for many M proteins of different M type