The Dsb family of enzymes catalyzes disulfide bond formation in the gram-negative periplasm, which is required for folding and assembly of many secreted proteins. Pertussis toxin is arguably the most complex toxin known: it is assembled from six subunits encoded by five genes (for subunits S1 to S5), with 11 intramolecular disulfide bonds. To examine the role of the Dsb enzymes in assembly and ...

Pertussis or whooping cough is a highly infectious respiratory disease caused by Bordetella pertussis. In vaccinating countries, infants, adolescents, and adults are relevant patients groups. A total of 707 clinical specimens were received from major hospitals in Malaysia in year 2011. These specimens were cultured on Regan-Lowe charcoal agar and subjected to end-point PCR, which amplified the ...

Two structurally and immunologically different components of Bordetella pertussis endotoxin can be visualized by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and silver staining: a major A band and a faster-migrating minor B band. Certain mutant strains of B. pertussis express only the B band, while the wild-type strains produce both lipooligosaccharides (LOS). Two monoclonal antib...

whooping cough (pertussis) is a highly contagious disease of the human respiratory tract, which is caused by bordetella pertussis. reemerge of pertussis in some highly immunized populations and divergency in gene order among several b. pertussis strains promoted this research to study the change of pertussis toxin (pt) and lipopolysacharide levels in response to the different environments. this...

Utilization of the enterobactin siderophore by the respiratory pathogens Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella bronchiseptica is dependent on the BfeA outer membrane receptor. This study determined that production of BfeA was increased significantly in iron-starved bacteria upon supplementation of cultures with enterobactin. A 1.01-kb open reading frame, designated bfeR, encoding a predicted posi...

Five outbreaks of infection (three pertussis, one parapertussis, and one mixed) in schools were studied prospectively. Nasopharyngeal swabs were obtained from a total of 697 children for culture of Bordetella organisms. Of 50 vaccinated children with culture-confirmed Bordetella infections (29 with pertussis and 21 parapertussis), 40 were symptomatic and 10 remained symptom-free. Smaller number...

Bordetella bronchiseptica and Bordetella parapertussis express a surface polysaccharide, attached to a lipopolysaccharide, which has been called O antigen. This structure is absent from Bordetella pertussis. We report the identification of a large genetic locus in B. bronchiseptica and B. parapertussis that is required for O-antigen biosynthesis. The locus is replaced by an insertion sequence i...

Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory disease that is especially dangerous for infants and children. Despite mass vaccination, reported pertussis cases have increased in the United States and other parts of the world, probably because of increased awareness, improved diagnostic means, and waning vaccine-induced immunity among adolescents and adults. Licensed vaccines do not kill the orga...

Pertussis is a worldwide public health threat. Bordetella pertussis produces multiple virulence factors that have been studied individually, and many have recently been found to have additional biological activities. Nevertheless, how they interact to cause the disease pertussis remains unknown. New animal models, particularly the infection of infant baboons with B. pertussis, are enabling long...