title: BapC autotransporter protein is a virulence determinant of Bordetella pertussis.
abstract: A protein designated Bap-5 (GenBank accession no. AF081494) or BapC (GenBank accession no. AJ277634) has been identified as a member of the Bordetella pertussis autotransporter family and the present work suggests that this protein, like the previously characterised BrkA, is a Bvg-regulated serum resistance factor and virulence determinant. B. pertussis bapC and brkA, bapC mutants were created and, like a brkA mutant, showed greater sensitivity to killing by normal human serum than their parent strains but they were not as sensitive as a bvg mutant. Competition assays also showed an important role for BapC, like BrkA, in virulence of B. pertussis in mice after intranasal infection. Moreover, the bapC and brkA, bapC mutants, like the brkA mutant, were found to be more sensitive to the antimicrobial peptide cecropin P1 than the parent strains. In the genome sequence of B. pertussis strain Tohama, bapC is designated as a pseudogene due, in part, to a frameshift in a poly(C) tract near the 5' end of the gene which creates a truncated BapC protein. Sequence analyses of the bapC region spanning the poly(C) tract of a number of B. pertussis strains showed minor nucleotide and amino acid polymorphisms but it appeared that all had an ORF that would be able to produce BapC.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: Mojtaba
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Noofeli
authors.forename: Habib
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bokhari
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Blackburn
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: John G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Coote
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Parton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001770:Blood Bactericidal Activity; D001886:Bordetella pertussis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D017353:Gene Deletion; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D050296:Microbial Viability; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012376:Rodent Diseases / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D044967:Serum / Q000382:microbiology; D010566:Virulence Factors, Bordetella / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014917:Whooping Cough / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D010566:Virulence Factors, Bordetella