Release of outer membrane vesicles from Bordetella pertussis

HOZBOR, DANIELA; RODRIGUEZ, MARIA EUGENIA; FERNANDEZ, JULIETA; LAGARES, ANTONIO; GUISO, NICOLE; YANTORNO, OSVALDO

CURRENT MICROBIOLOGY

Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

Lugar: New York; Año: 1999 vol. 38 p. 273 - 278

0343-8651

The aim of the study reported here was to investigate the production of Bordetella pertussis Bordetella pertussis  outer membrane vesicles (OMVs). Numerous vesicles released from cells grown in Stainer-Scholte liquid  medium were observed. The formation of similar vesicle-like structures could also be artificially induced by sonication of concentrated bacterial suspensions. Immunoblot analysis showed that OMVs contain adenylate cyclase-hemolysin (AC-Hly), among other polypeptides, as well as the lipopolysaccharide(LPS). Experiments carried out employing purified AC-Hly and OMVs isolated from B. pertussis AC-Hly- showed that AC-Hly is an integral component of the vesicles. OMVs reported here contain several protective immunogens and might be considered a possible basic material for the development of acellular pertussis vaccines.