Characterization and virulence of hemolysin III from Vibrio vulnificus.
Vibrio vulnificus, a highly virulent marine bacterium, is the causative agent of both serious wound infections and fatal septicemia in many areas of the word. A gene (hlyIII) encoding a hemolysin was cloned and sequenced from V. vulnificus. Nucleotide sequence analysis predicted an open reading frame of 642 bp encoding a 214 amino acid polypeptide that showed 48% sequence identity to the hemolysin III of Bacillus cereus. When HlyIII of V. vulnificus was expressed in Escherichia coli, crude extracts exhibited hemolytic activity similar to that of hemolysin III from Bacillus cereus. A hlyIII isogenic mutant was constructed via insertional inactivation and showed an attenuated virulence compared with the wild-type strain when this mutant was administered intraperitoneally in mice.
Chen
Yu-Chung
YC
Department of Food Science, National Chung-Hsing University, 250 Kuokuang Road, Taichung 402, Taiwan.
Chang
Ming-Chung
MC
Chuang
Yin-Ching
YC
Jeang
Chii-Ling
CL
D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D015870:Gene Expression; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology* / Q000633:toxicity; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D041261:Vibrio vulnificus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014774:Virulence
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C073845:hemolysin, Vibrio