| The effect of deletion of the edema factor on Bacillus anthracis pathogenicity in guinea pigs and rabbits. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 22020310 Owner: NLM Status: Publisher |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Bacillus anthracis secretes three major components, which assemble into two bipartite toxins: lethal toxin (LT), composed of lethal factor (LF) and protective antigen (PA) and edema toxin (ET), composed of edema factor (EF) and PA. EF is a potent calmodulin-dependent adenylate cyclase, which is internalized into the target cell following PA binding. Once inside the cell, EF elevates cAMP levels, interrupting intracellular signaling. Effects of ET were demonstrated on monocytes, neutrophils and T-cells. In an earlier work we demonstrated that a deletion of LF in a fully virulent strain had no effect in guinea pigs and a significant, but not major, effect in the rabbit model. These results suggested that EF might play an important role in the development of infection and mortality following exposure to B. anthracis spores. To evaluate the role of EF in B. anthracis pathogenicity we deleted the cya gene, which encodes the EF protein, in the fully virulent Vollum strain. The Δcya mutant was fully virulent in the guinea pig model as determined by LD(50) experiments. In the rabbit model, when infected subcutaneously, the absence of EF had no effect on the virulence of the mutant. However an increase of two orders of magnitude in the LD(50) was demonstrated when the rabbits were infected by intranasal instillation accompanied with partial mortality and increased mean time to death. These results argue that in the guinea pig model the presence of one of the toxins, ET or LT is sufficient for the development of the infection. In the rabbit model ET plays a role in respiratory infection, most probably mediating the early steps of host colonization. |
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Authors:
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Haim Levy; Shay Weiss; Zeev Altboum; Josef Schlomovitz; Nili Rothschild; Itai Glinert; Assa Sittner; David Kobiler |
Publication Detail:
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Type: JOURNAL ARTICLE Date: 2011-10-17 |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Microbial pathogenesis Volume: - ISSN: 1096-1208 ISO Abbreviation: - Publication Date: 2011 Oct |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2011-10-24 Completed Date: - Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 8606191 Medline TA: Microb Pathog Country: - |
Other Details:
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Languages: ENG Pagination: - Citation Subset: - |
Copyright Information:
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Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier India Pvt Ltd. |
Affiliation:
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Department of Infectious Diseases, Israel Institute for Biological Research, PO Box 19, 74100 Ness Ziona, Israel. |
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From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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