A novel means of self-protection, unrelated to toxin activation, confers immunity to the bactericidal effects of the Enterococcus faecalis cytolysin.

ABSTRACT: Enterococcus faecalis has become a pervasive clinical problem due to the emergence of resistance to most antibiotics. The cytolysin of E. faecalis is a novel bacterial toxin that contributes to the severity of disease. It consists of two structural subunits, which together possess both hemolytic and bactericidal activity. Both toxin subunits are encoded in a complex operon frequently harbored on pheromone-responsive plasmids. E. faecalis strains lacking such plasmids are susceptible to the bactericidal effects of the cytolysin. A novel cytolysin immunity determinant at the 3' end of the pAD1 cytolysin operon is described in the present study. Deletion analysis and specific mutagenesis isolated the immunity function to a single open reading frame. Specific mutagenesis experiments demonstrat

SUBMITTER: Coburn PS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC116516 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature