skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Cell envelope of Bordetella pertussis: immunological and biochemical analyses and characterization of a major outer membrane porin protein

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:6591932

Surface molecules of Bordetella pertussis which may be important in metabolism, pathogenesis, and immunity to whooping cough were examined using cell fractionation and /sup 125/I cell surface labeling. Antigenic envelope proteins were examined by immunofluorescence microscopy and Western blotting procedures using monoclonal antibodies and convalescent sera. A surface protein with a high M/sub r/, missing in a mutant lacking the filamentous hemagglutinin, was identified in virulent Bordetella pertussis but was absent in virulent B. pertussis strains. At least three envelope proteins were found only in virulent B. pertussis strains and were absent or diminished in avirulent and most phenotypically modulated strains. Transposon-induced mutants unable to produce hemolysin, dermonecrotic toxin, pertussis toxin, and filamentous hemagglutinin also lacked these three envelope proteins, confirming that virulence-associated envelope proteins were genetically regulated with other virulence-associated traits. Two dimensional gel electrophoresis revealed at least five heat modifiable proteins which migrated as higher or lower M/sub r/ moieties if solubilized at 25/sup 0/C instead of 100/sup 0/C.

Research Organization:
Missouri Univ., Columbia (USA)
OSTI ID:
6591932
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English