The Reaction Path of Product Release in NO Detoxification at the Active Site of Truncated Hemoglobin N in MCSCF Approach

The Multi-Configurational Self-Consistent Field approach with the geometry optimization was applied to the calculation of electronic properties of active site of heme core of truncated hemoglobin N, with the inclusion of [ONOO] functional group and two water molecules. The localized molecular orbitals are employed as a starting set. Two subspaces of full interaction have been used by the construction of MCSCF wavefunction. The first one includes 3d orbitals of iron atom, and the second contains bonding and antibonding molecular orbitals of peroxynitrite with one unshared electronic pair of the O2 fragment. The reaction is characterized by two transition states; the products are nitrate anion and one unbound water molecule. There arise an evidence of NO2 and NO radicals as the reaction products.

Contribution of YjbIH to Virulence Factor Expression and Host Colonization inStaphylococcus aureus

ABSTRACTTo persist within the host and cause disease,Staphylococcus aureusrelies on its ability to precisely fine-tune virulence factor expression in response to rapidly changing environments. During an unbiased transposon mutant screen, we observed that disruption of a two-gene operon,yjbIH, resulted in decreased levels of pigmentation and aureolysin (Aur) activity relative to the wild-type strain. Further analyses revealed that YjbH, a predicted thioredoxin-like oxidoreductase, is predominantly responsible for the observedyjbIHmutant phenotypes, though a minor role exists for the putative truncated hemoglobin YjbI. These differences were due to significantly decreased expression ofcrtOPQMNandaur. Previous studies found that YjbH targets the disulfide- and oxidative stress-responsive regulator Spx for degradation by ClpXP. The absence ofyjbHoryjbIresulted in altered sensitivities to nitrosative and oxidative stress and iron deprivation. Additionally, aconitase activity was altered in theyjbHandyjbImutant strains. Decreased levels of pigmentation and aureolysin (Aur) activity in theyjbHmutant were found to be Spx dependent. Lastly, we used a murine sepsis model to determine the effect of theyjbIHdeletion on pathogenesis and found that the mutant was better able to colonize the kidneys and spleens during an acute infection than the wild-type strain. These studies identified changes in pigmentation and protease activity in response to YjbIH and are the first to have shown a role for these proteins during infection.