Pathogens of the bacterial genus Bordetella cause respiratory disease in humans and animals. Although virulence and host specificity vary across the genus, the genetic determinants of this diversity remain unidentified. To identify genes that may underlie key phenotypic differences between these species and clarify their evolutionary relationships, we performed a comparative analysis of genome ...

Virtually all members of the gram-negative bacillus genus Bordetella are pathogenic, being responsible for a variety of diseases in both man and animals. B.pertussis causes whooping cough, while B.parapertussis infections result in milder, but still serious, respiratory diseases in human (1). B.bronchiseptica is pathogenic for both dogs and pigs, and B.avium infects birds (2, 3). While B.pertus...

1. Njamkepo E, Bonacorsi S, Debruyne M, Gibaud SA, Guillot S, Guiso N. Significant finding of Bordetella holmesii DNA in nasopharyngeal samples from French patients with suspected pertussis. J Clin Microbiol. 2011;49:4347–8. http://dx.doi. org/10.1128/JCM.01272-11 2. Weyant RS, Hollis DG, Weaver RE, Amin MFM, Steigerwalt AG, O’Connor SP, et al. Bordetella holmesii sp. nov., a new gram-negative ...

The Bordetella type III secretion system (T3SS) effector protein BteA is necessary and sufficient for rapid cytotoxicity in a wide range of mammalian cells. We show that BteA is highly conserved and functionally interchangeable between Bordetella bronchiseptica, Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis. The identification of BteA sequences required for cytotoxicity allowed the construc...

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...

The baboon model of Bordetella pertussis infection is the newest and most clinically accurate model of the human disease to date. However, among the 15 experimentally infected baboons in this study, a subset of baboons did not exhibit the expected high bacterial colonization levels or increase in white blood cell count. Moreover, cultures of nasopharyngeal wash samples from several baboons sugg...

BrkA confers resistance to killing by complement in Bordetella pertussis. Complement resistance in Bordetella bronchiseptica was examined. Four B. bronchiseptica strains possessed the brkA gene; however, only three expressed the protein. Only the strain lacking BrkA was susceptible to complement. Introduction of the B. pertussis brkA gene restored BrkA expression to this strain but did not conf...