Disease relevance of nanA

• A gene from Streptococcus pneumoniae (nanA), with features entirely consistent with a neuraminidase gene, has been sequenced [1].

High impact information on nanA

• Mutagenesis of either nanA or lytA did not result in an additional attenuation of virulence in the ply deletion background [2].
• Data from this study indicate that products of the nanA gene have an impact on the ability of S. pneumoniae to colonize and persist in the nasopharynx as well as the middle ear [3].
• Recently, an S. pneumoniae neuraminidase-deficient mutant, DeltaNA1, has been constructed by insertion-duplication mutagenesis of the nanA gene of S. pneumoniae strain D39 [3].
• Streptococcus pneumoniae, an important human pathogen, contains at least two genes, nanA and nanB, that express sialidase activity [4].
• Furthermore, this suggests that nanA is an important target of the immune system in the interaction between the pneumococcus and host [4].

Anatomical context of nanA

• Both nanA and spxB mRNAs were present in higher amounts in the nasopharynx than in the lungs or blood [5].
• We propose that products of the nanA gene have a significant impact on the changes of the carbohydrate moieties in the ET epithelium and may be responsible for the previously reported increased ability of the D39 parent to colonize the nasopharynx and invade the middle ear [6].
• The trachea whole organ perfusion technique was used to study the effect of the disruption of the Streptococcus pneumoniae neuraminidase nanA gene on bacterial adherence and alteration of the carbohydrate surface structures of respiratory epithelial cells [7].

References