Disease relevance of cspA

• A cspA(-) mutant was ten times less virulent in a neonatal rat sepsis model of GBS infections, as measured by LD(50) analysis [1].
• Two other insertions were found to be located downstream of a homolog of the major Escherichia coli cold shock gene, cspA [2].
• Three genes homologous to cspA, which encodes the major secretable protein of Clostridium beijerinckii NCIB 8052 have been cloned and sequenced [3].
• Temperature-dependent processing of the cspA mRNA in Rhodobacter capsulatus [4].
• Identification and transcriptional analysis of a cold shock-inducible gene, cspA, in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) [5].

High impact information on cspA

• In addition, the cspA(-) mutant was significantly more sensitive than the wild-type strain to opsonophagocytic killing by human neutrophils in vitro [1].
• Among the arbitrarily selected 11 genes from over 100, the atpC, cspA and rpsA passed the test by Northern blotting [6].
• In our hands, the cold-shock protein profiles resulting from overexpression of Escherichia coli cspA and M. burtonii deaD 5'-UTRs were similar, however they did not differ from those for the overexpression of a control plasmid lacking a 5'-UTR [7].
• Screening for mutations among common laboratory E. coli strains showed a high degree of genetic diversity in cspC but not in cspA and cspE [8].
• The promoter of the cspA-ORF2-rpsU locus had -10 and -35 elements similar to the E. coli sigma(70) consensus promoter and, like the cspA locus of E. coli, included an AT-rich region upstream of the -35 hexamer [9].

Chemical compound and disease context of cspA

• Chloramphenicol induces the transcription of the major cold shock gene of Escherichia coli, cspA [10].

Biological context of cspA

• Primer extension experiments located a transcription start site 29 bp upstream of the cspA initiation codon [3].
• RESULTS: Overproduction of truncated cspA mRNAs retaining translational ability was found to completely block cell growth at low temperatures [11].
• The quantitatively modest transcriptional activation shown by the core promoter of cspA following cold shock suggests that transcriptional activation can significantly contribute to cold shock induction only when coupled to posttranscriptional controls, such as alterations in mRNA stability and the translational apparatus [12].
• To investigate the molecular basis of this induction, we considered the relevance of transcriptional and posttranscriptional controls by analyzing the steady-state levels of transcripts and the expression of reporter genes in cells carrying a set of cspA promoter fragments of variable length fused to lacZ or cat genes [12].
• A homolog of the major eubacterial cold shock gene cspA was identified in Sinorhizobium meliloti RM1021 by luxAB reporter transposon mutagenesis [9].

Anatomical context of cspA

• CONCLUSION: LACE is caused by the overproduction of a truncated cspA mRNA in the absence of CspA production, which in turn traps all the cellular ribosomes in a non-adaptive form incapable of forming initiation complexes with other cellular mRNAs [11].
• This effect was termed 'low-temperature antibiotic effect of truncated cspA expression (LACE)'. In contrast to the significant reduction of polysomes in normal cells upon cold shock, cells under LACE maintained a high polysome profile, producing only truncated cspA products [11].

Associations of cspA with chemical compounds

• 4. The addition of rifamycin immediately following the temperature downshift or along with the addition of chloramphenicol repressed the transcription of cspA as well as the induced production of CS7 [10].
• The induction of cspA by Hcy was suppressed when isoleucine was included in the growth medium [13].

Other interactions of cspA

• Northern blot analysis indicated that under the culture conditions employed only two genes, cspA and cspC, are efficiently expressed and their products are detected in the culture medium [3].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of cspA

• The cspA gene was present among representative clinical isolates from all nine capsular serotypes, as revealed by Southern blotting [1].
• RT-PCR and reporter fusion experiments confirmed that cspA was induced by Hcy [13].

References