A collagen-binding MSCRAMM entitled Ace from enterococcal bacteria is provided
which was homologous to the ligand-binding region of Cna, the collagen-binding
MSCRAMM from Staphylococcus aureus, and which can be utilized in a similar
manner as other collagen-binding MSCRAMMs to inhibit adhesion of enterococcal bacteria
to extracellular matrix proteins. The N-terminal region of Ace contained a region
(residues 174-319), or A domain, which appears to be equivalent to the minimal
ligand-binding region of the collagen-binding protein Cna (Cna 151-318), and contains
several 47-residue tandem repeat units, called B domain repeat units, between the
collagen-binding site and cell wall-associated regions. The Ace protein of the
invention can thus be utilized in methods of preventing and/or treating enterococcal
infection, and in addition, antibodies raised against Ace, or its A domain, can
be used to effectively inhibit the adhesion of enterococcal cells to a collagen
substrate. The Ace protein of the present invention is thus a functional collagen-binding
MSCRAMM and can be utilized to treat or prevent invention in the same manner as
other isolated MSCRAMMs have been utilized, namely in methods of treating or preventing
infections and diseases caused by enterococcal bacteria.
