Staphylococcus aureus TarP: A Brick in the Wall or Rosetta Stone?

摘要

Staphylococcus aureus infection elicits antibodies against wall teichoic acid (WTA). Several glycosyltransferases modify WTA to generate anomeric heterogeneity. In recent work, show that modification by prophage-encoded TarP diminishes WTA immunogenicity, allowing staphylococci to evade host adaptive immune responses, and propose to exploit these insights for vaccines.