Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Arnaud Basle, Dr Lorraine Hewitt, Dr Alan KohORCiD, Dr Heather Lamb, Paul Thompson, Professor Grant Burgess, Dr Michael HallORCiD, Professor Alastair Hawkins, Professor Heath MurrayORCiD, Professor Rick Lewis
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Bacterial biofilms are a complex architecture of cells that grow on moist interfaces, and are held together by a molecular glue of extracellular proteins, sugars, and nucleic acids. Biofilms are particularly problematic in human healthcare as they can coat medical implants and are thus a potential source of disease. Enzymatic dispersal of biofilm is increasingly being developed as a new strategy to treat this problem. Here we have characterised NucB, a biofilm-dispersing nuclease from a marine strain of Bacillus licheniformis, and present its crystal structure together with the biochemistry and a mutational analysis required to confirm its active site. Taken together, these data support the categorisation of NucB into a unique subfamily of the ββα metal-dependent non-specific endonucleases. Understanding the structure and function of NucB will facilitate its future development into an anti-biofilm therapeutic agent.
Author(s): Basle A, Hewitt L, Koh A, Lamb HK, Thompson P, Burgess JG, Hall MJ, Hawkins AR, Murray H, Lewis RJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Nucleic Acids Research
Year: 2018
Volume: 46
Issue: 1
Pages: 473-484
Print publication date: 09/01/2018
Online publication date: 20/11/2017
Acceptance date: 08/11/2017
Date deposited: 21/11/2017
ISSN (print): 0305-1048
ISSN (electronic): 1362-4962
Publisher: Oxford University Press
URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkx1170
DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkx1170
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
