European Workshop on Bacterial Protein Toxins (4th) Held in Urbino, Italy on July 3-6, 1989
Abstract
During the past few years, there has been a good deal of interest in proteins produced by bacteria under conditions of 'stress'. Of particular interest have been proteins that are only produced when the iron concentration in the culture medium becomes limiting. Most of these stress proteins are located in the outer bacterial membrane and have not only been shown to be involved in iron transport into the cell, but also may serve as receptors for bacteriocins and bacteriophages. In many bacterial species their biosynthesis is regulated by the product of the highly conserved fur gene. In the case of pathogenic bacteria, they are frequently involved in virulence. Further study showed that toxin is synthesized de novo and is secreted during the terminal stages of linear growth only after the iron content of the medium has become exhausted. In contrast to most wild type diphtherial strains, which depend on a classical cytochrome system for their growth, the high toxin-producing Park- Williams (8) strain is able to increase 5-6 fold in mass, at a linear rate, while its contents of iron and of iron enzymes decrease to 15-20% of their normal value.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 28, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA240923
Entities
People
- F. J. Fehrenbach
- J. E. Alouf
- J. Freer
- P. Falmagne
- Rino Rappuoli