TdeA, a TolC-like protein required for toxin and drug export in Aggregatibacter (Actinobacillus) actinomycetemcomitans.

ABSTRACT: Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans is an oral bacterium that causes localized aggressive periodontitis (LAP) and extra-oral infections such as sub-acute infective endocarditis. As part of its array of virulence factors, A. actinomycetemcomitans produces leukotoxin (LtxA), a member of the RTX family of toxins. LtxA kills human leukocytes and we have recently shown that the toxin is required for beta-hemolysis by A. actinomycetemcomitans on solid medium. In other RTX toxin-producing bacteria, an outer membrane channel-forming protein, TolC, is required for toxin secretion and drug export. We have identified an ORF in A. actinomycetemcomitans that encodes a putative protein having predicted structural properties similar to TolC. Inactivation of this ORF resulted in a mutant that was no lon

SUBMITTER: Crosby JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1831674 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature