Open AccessProduction and secretion of pertussis toxin subunits in Bacillus subtilis
Author(s) -
Saris Per,
Taira Suvi,
Airaksinen Ulla,
Palva Airi,
Sarvas Matti,
Palva Ilkka,
RunebergNyman Kate
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1990.tb04138.x
Subject(s) - bacillus amyloliquefaciens , bacillus subtilis , protein subunit , pertussis toxin , toxin , bordetella pertussis , bacillales , secretion , bacillaceae , signal peptide , gene , biology , whooping cough , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , biochemistry , bacteria , recombinant dna , genetics , g protein , virology , receptor , vaccination
Pertussis toxin (PT) is a major component of today's acellular whooping cough vaccines. The use of cellular vaccines is predicted to increase sharply in the near future. There is therefore a need to produce PT in a way that makes its purification as easy as possible. Our approach was to express all five PT subunits individually in Bacillus subtilis . We have used vectors containing the promoter and signal sequences of the α‐amylase gene of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens followed by an insert encoding the appropriate PT‐subunit. All PT‐subunits were secreted and found in the culture supernatant. The level of expression varied considerably: S1 and S5 were produced in large quantities whereas much smaller amounts of S2, S3 and S4 were found. The subunits were also present in the membrane fraction of the respective strains.