BMC Microbiology Volume 9
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 Research articleOuter membrane vesicle-mediated release of cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) from Campylobacter jejuniBarbro Lindmark1 , Pramod Kumar Rompikuntal1 , Karolis Vaitkevicius1 , Tianyan Song1 , Yoshimitsu Mizunoe2 , Bernt Eric Uhlin1,3 , Patricia Guerry4 and Sun Nyunt Wai1  1Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, S-90187 Umeå, Sweden 2Department of Bacteriology, the Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo 105-8461, Japan 3Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), Umeå University, S-90187 Umeå, Sweden 4Enteric Diseases Department, Naval Medical Research Center, 503 Robert Grant Ave, Silver Spring, MD, USA author email corresponding author email
BMC Microbiology 2009,
9:220doi:10.1186/1471-2180-9-220
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| Published: |
16 October 2009 |
Abstract
Background
Background: Cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) is one of the well-characterized virulence factors of Campylobacter jejuni, but it is unknown how CDT becomes surface-exposed or is released from the bacterium to the surrounding environment.
Results
Our data suggest that CDT is secreted to the bacterial culture supernatant via outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) released from the bacteria. All three subunits (the CdtA, CdtB, and CdtC proteins) were detected by immunogold labeling and electron microscopy of OMVs. Subcellular fractionation of the bacteria indicated that, apart from the majority of CDT detected in the cytoplasmic compartment, appreciable amounts (20-50%) of the cellular pool of CDT proteins were present in the periplasmic compartment. In the bacterial culture supernatant, we found that a majority of the extracellular CDT was tightly associated with the OMVs. Isolated OMVs could exert the cell distending effects typical of CDT on a human intestinal cell line, indicating that CDT is present there in a biologically active form.
Conclusion
Our results strongly suggest that the release of outer membrane vesicles is functioning as a route of C. jejuni to deliver all the subunits of CDT toxin (CdtA, CdtB, and CdtC) to the surrounding environment, including infected host tissue. |