Article of Significant Interest in This Issue

Abstract

Structural Modeling of the Treponema pallidumOuter Membrane Protein Repertoire: a RoadMap for Development of a Syphilis Vaccine Syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease caused by Treponema pallidum, involves approximately 11 million new cases and 350,000 adverse pregnancy outcomes annually. Hawley et al. (e00082-21) performed advanced structural modeling of the Nichols strain’s repertoire of outer membrane proteins. The T. pallidum outer membrane protein repertoire (OMPeome) contains three transporter families, a multicomponent efflux system to extrude noxious molecules, and two “stand-alones” involved in outer membrane biogenesis. This work represents a major advance towards elucidating host-pathogen interactions during syphilis, understanding how T. pallidum, an extreme auxotroph, obtains a wide array of biomolecules from its obligate human host, and developing a vaccine with global efficacy.