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Journal of Bacteriology, April 2002, p. 2034-2038, Vol. 184, No. 7
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.7.2034-2038.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Perfringolysin O Expression in Clostridium perfringens Is Independent of the Upstream pfoR Gene

Milena M. Awad and Julian I. Rood*

Bacterial Pathogenesis Research Group, Department of Microbiology, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia

Received 23 October 2001/ Accepted 20 December 2001

The pathogenesis of Clostridium perfringens-mediated gas gangrene or clostridial myonecrosis involves the extracellular toxins alpha-toxin and perfringolysin O. Previous studies (T. Shimizu, A. Okabe, J. Minami, and H. Hayashi, Infect. Immun. 59:137-142, 1991) carried out with Escherichia coli suggested that the perfringolysin O structural gene, pfoA, was positively regulated by the product of the upstream pfoR gene. In an attempt to confirm this hypothesis in C. perfringens, a pfoR-pfoA deletion mutant was complemented with isogenic pfoA+ shuttle plasmids that varied only in their ability to encode an intact pfoR gene. No difference in the ability to produce perfringolysin O was observed for C. perfringens strains carrying these plasmids. In addition, chromosomal pfoR mutants were constructed by homologous recombination in C. perfringens. Again no difference in perfringolysin O activity was observed. Since it was not possible to alter perfringolysin O expression by mutation of pfoR, it was concluded that the pfoR gene product is unlikely to have a role in the regulation of pfoA expression in C. perfringens.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Bacterial Pathogenesis Research Group, Department of Microbiology, P.O. Box 53, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia. Phone: (61 3) 9905 4825. Fax: (61 3) 9905 4811. E-mail: Julian.Rood{at}med.monash.edu.au.

Journal of Bacteriology, April 2002, p. 2034-2038, Vol. 184, No. 7
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.7.2034-2038.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Cheung, J. K., Dupuy, B., Deveson, D. S., Rood, J. I. (2004). The Spatial Organization of the VirR Boxes Is Critical for VirR-Mediated Expression of the Perfringolysin O Gene, pfoA, from Clostridium perfringens. J. Bacteriol. 186: 3321-3330 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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