Neisseria meningitidis RTX proteins are not required for virulence in infant rats.
RTX cytotoxins play an important role in virulence of numerous gram-negative pathogens. Unexpectedly, however, we show here that the RTX proteins of Neisseria meningitidis are dispensable for virulence in the infant rat model of infection.
Forman
Stanislav
S
Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Bacterial Pathogens, Institute of Microbiology, Czech Academy of Sciences, CZ-142 20 Prague 4, Czech Republic.
Linhartova
Irena
I
Osicka
Radim
R
Nassif
Xavier
X
Sebo
Peter
P
Pelicic
Vladimir
V
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D003603:Cytotoxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008589:Meningococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality*; D009154:Mutation; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D014774:Virulence
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D003603:Cytotoxins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C083530:frpC protein, Neisseria meningitidis