TY - JOUR
T1 - Acinetobacter baumannii reca protein in repair of DNA damage, antimicrobial resistance, general stress response, and virulence
AU - Aranda, Jesús
AU - Bardina, Carlota
AU - Beceiro, Alejandro
AU - Rumbo, Soraya
AU - Cabral, Maria P.
AU - Barbé, Jordi
AU - Bou, Germán
PY - 2011/8/1
Y1 - 2011/8/1
N2 - RecA is the major enzyme involved in homologous recombination and plays a central role in SOS mutagenesis. In Acinetobacter spp., including Acinetobacter baumannii, a multidrug-resistant bacterium responsible for nosocomial infections worldwide, DNA repair responses differ in many ways from those of other bacterial species. In this work, the function of A. baumannii RecA was examined by constructing a recA mutant. Alteration of this single gene had a pleiotropic effect, showing the involvement of RecA in DNA damage repair and consequently in cellular protection against stresses induced by DNA damaging agents, several classes of antibiotics, and oxidative agents. In addition, the absence of RecA decreased survival in response to both heat shock and desiccation. Virulence assays in vitro (with macrophages) and in vivo (using a mouse model) similarly implicated RecA in the pathogenicity of A. baumannii. Thus, the data strongly suggest a protective role for RecA in the bacterium and indicate that inactivation of the protein can contribute to a combined therapeutic approach to controlling A. baumannii infections. © 2011, American Society for Microbiology.
AB - RecA is the major enzyme involved in homologous recombination and plays a central role in SOS mutagenesis. In Acinetobacter spp., including Acinetobacter baumannii, a multidrug-resistant bacterium responsible for nosocomial infections worldwide, DNA repair responses differ in many ways from those of other bacterial species. In this work, the function of A. baumannii RecA was examined by constructing a recA mutant. Alteration of this single gene had a pleiotropic effect, showing the involvement of RecA in DNA damage repair and consequently in cellular protection against stresses induced by DNA damaging agents, several classes of antibiotics, and oxidative agents. In addition, the absence of RecA decreased survival in response to both heat shock and desiccation. Virulence assays in vitro (with macrophages) and in vivo (using a mouse model) similarly implicated RecA in the pathogenicity of A. baumannii. Thus, the data strongly suggest a protective role for RecA in the bacterium and indicate that inactivation of the protein can contribute to a combined therapeutic approach to controlling A. baumannii infections. © 2011, American Society for Microbiology.
U2 - 10.1128/JB.00389-11
DO - 10.1128/JB.00389-11
M3 - Article
VL - 193
SP - 3740
EP - 3747
JO - Journal of Bacteriology
JF - Journal of Bacteriology
SN - 0021-9193
IS - 15
ER -