Disease relevance of Pnpt1

• Polynucleotide phosphorylase is a global regulator of virulence and persistency in Salmonella enterica [1].

High impact information on Pnpt1

• The results demonstrate a connection between PNPase and Salmonella virulence and show that alterations in PNPase activity could represent a strategy for the establishment of persistency [1].
• Here, we identified a single point mutation in the gene for polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase) as a factor affecting bacterial invasion and intracellular replication, and which determines the alternation between acute or persistent infection in a mouse model for Salmonella enterica infection [1].
• Here, we report that PNPase deficiency results in increased expression of Salmonella plasmid virulence (spv) genes under in vitro growth conditions that allow induction of spv expression [2].
• We have studied the kinetics of guanine incorporation into DNA in mouse T-lymphoma (S-49) mutant cells [PNPase (purine-nucleoside phosphorylase)- and HGPRTase (hypoxanthine: guanine phosphoribosyltransferase)-deficient] that are incapable of converting dGuo (deoxyguanosine) to Gua (guanine) ribonucleotides [3].
• Poly(8-oxyinosinic acid) (poly O8I), was synthesized by polymerizing 8-oxyinosine diphosphate using the enzyme polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase) [4].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Pnpt1

• In parallel, with microarray analysis, PNPase was found to affect the mRNA levels of a subset of virulence genes, in particular those contained in Salmonella pathogenicity islands 1 and 2 [1].

References