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Infection and Immunity, February 1999, p. 754-759, Vol. 67, No. 2
Laboratory of Pertussis, Center for Biologics
Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration,
Bethesda, Maryland 20892
Received 19 June 1998/Returned for modification 10 September
1998/Accepted 5 November 1998
PtlC is a member of a set of proteins necessary for the secretion
of pertussis toxin (PT) from Bordetella pertussis. Using polyclonal antibodies specific for PtlC, we identified PtlC as a
protein with an apparent molecular weight of 85,000 that localizes to
the membrane fraction of bacterial cell extracts. We found that a
mutant strain of B. pertussis that contains an in-frame deletion in ptlC is unable to secrete PT and that PT
secretion is fully restored by expressing ptlC in
trans, indicating that PtlC is essential for transport of
PT across the bacterial membrane(s). PT secretion was inhibited in
wild-type B. pertussis after introduction of a plasmid
expressing a mutant ptlC altered in the putative nucleotide-binding region, suggesting that this region of PtlC is
essential for proper function. Moreover, the observed dominant negative
phenotype suggests that PtlC either functions as a multimer or
interacts with some other component(s) necessary for secretion of PT.
0019-9567/99/$00.00+0
Identification and Characterization of PtlC, an
Essential Component of the Pertussis Toxin Secretion System

*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: CBER/FDA,
HFM-434, Building 29, Room 418, 8800 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD
20892. Phone: (301) 402-3553. Fax: (301) 402-2776. E-mail:
burns{at}cber.fda.gov.
Present address: MJ Research, Inc., 136 Coolidge Ave.,
Watertown, MA 02172.
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