A Cytolysin Encoded by Salmonella is Required for Survival within Macrophages

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 91; no. 2; pp. 489 - 493
• Main Authors: Libby, Stephen J., Goebel, Werner, Ludwig, Albrecht, Buchmeier, Nancy, Bowe, Frances, Fang, Ferric C., Guiney, Donald G., Songer, J. Glenn, Heffron, Fred
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 18.01.1994; National Acad Sciences; National Academy of Sciences
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Bacteria; Bacterial Proteins; Bacterial Toxins - genetics; Bacteriology; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Biology; Chromosome Mapping; Cloning, Molecular; Cytotoxins - genetics; Cytotoxins - physiology; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes; Genes, Bacterial; Hemolysin proteins; Hemolysin Proteins - genetics; Infections; Liver; Macrophages; Macrophages, Peritoneal - microbiology; Mice; Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Pathogenicity, virulence, toxins, bacteriocins, pyrogens, host-bacteria relations, miscellaneous strains; Rodents; Salmonella; Salmonella Infections, Animal - microbiology; Salmonella typhimurium; Salmonella typhimurium - genetics; Salmonella typhimurium - pathogenicity; Salmonella typhimurium - physiology; Toxins; Transcription Factors; Virulence; Virulence - genetics; Hemolysis; Cytolysin; Virulence; Rodentia; Salmonella typhimurium; Survival; Biological activity; Toxin; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Gene; Mouse; Bacteria; Molecular cloning; Enterobacteriaceae; Macrophage
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.91.2.489

A Salmonella gene encoding a cytolysin has been identified by screening for hemolysis on blood agar. DNA sequence analyses together with genetic mapping in Salmonella suggest that it is unrelated to other toxins or hemolysins. The gene (slyA) is present in every strain of Salmonella examined, in Shigella, and in enteroinvasive Escherichia coli but not in other Enterobacteriaceae. SlyA (salmolysin) purified from a derivative of the original clone has hemolytic and cytolytic activity and has a molecular weight predicted by the DNA sequence. The median lethal dose and infection kinetics in mice suggest that the toxin is required for virulence and facilitates Salmonella survival within mouse peritoneal macrophages.