Production of Vibrio vulnificus hemolysin in vivo and its pathogenic significance.
Hemolyin/cytolysin (VvhA) is one of the representative exotoxins produced by Vibrio vulnificus. Cytotoxic mechanism of VvhA has been extensively studied. However, there have been controversies concerning the pathogenic significance since vvhA(-) mutant showed no LD(50) change in mice. In this study, we investigated whether VvhA is expressed in vivo. When V. vulnificus was cultured in the presence of normal pooled human serum, substantial amount of VvhA was detected by ELISA and the transcription of vvhA was also evidently confirmed by RT-PCR and a transcriptional reporter assay. To investigate whether VvhA is expressed in vivo, mice were infected with V. vulnificus and bacterial RNAs were harvested from the mice. In vivo vvhA transcription was observed evidently by RT-PCR. We hereby propose that VvhA is substantially produced in vivo and would contribute to the pathogenesis of V. vulnificus septicemia.
Department of Dental Pharmacology, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757, Republic of Korea.
Shee Eun
SE
Lee
Phil Youl
PY
Ryu
Soo Young
SY
Kim
Young Ran
YR
Kim
Jeong Tae
JT
Koh
Ok Joon
OJ
Kim
Sun Sik
SS
Chung
Hyon E
HE
Choy
Joon Haeng
JH
Rhee
D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002460:Cell Line; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000633:toxicity; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism; D018805:Sepsis / Q000382:microbiology; D044967:Serum / Q000378:metabolism; D041261:Vibrio vulnificus / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000472:pathogenicity*
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; C470630:VvhA protein, Vibrio vulnificus