Acinetobacter baumannii's Great Escape: How a Membrane Protein Interacts with Fibronectin to Evade Immunity.

Abstract

Bacterial resistance and nosocomial infections are serious threats compromising public health in numerous countries. Acinetobacter baumannii has been identified as one of the most serious pathogens, due to its potential virulence and the development of multiple resistance. In this contribution by using all-atom molecular dynamics simulation, we analyze the structure and the properties of the OmpA protein, which is present in the bacterial external membrane. We also analyze the structure of possible protein/protein complexes formed between OmpA and the human fibronectin, which may ultimately lead to the immune escaping of the bacteria. For the first time, we provide for the first time plausible structure of the complex also identifying suitable amino acid mediating the interaction, and thus, constituting suitable drug targets to disrupt the complex formation.