English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Bordetella pertussis (B. pertussis)  is the causative agent of whooping cough, which is a highly contagious disease in the human respiratory tract. Despite vaccination since the 1950s, pertussis remains the most prevalent vaccine-preventable disease in developed countries. A recent resurgence pertussis is associated with the expansion of  B. pertussis  strains with a novel allele for the pertussis toxin (ptx) promoter  ptxP3  in place of resident  ptxP1  strains. The recent expansion of  ptxP3  strains suggests that these strains carry mutations that have increased their fitness. Compared to the  ptxP1  strains,  ptxP3  strains produce more Ptx, which results in increased virulence and immune suppression. In this study, we investigated the contribution of gene expression changes of various genes on the increased fitness of the  ptxP3  strains. Using genome-wide gene expression profiling, we show that several virulence genes had higher expression levels in the  ptxP3  strains compared to the  ptxP1  strains. We provide the first evidence that wildtype  ptxP3  strains are better colonizers in an intranasal mouse infection model. This study shows that the  ptxP3  mutation and the genetic background of  ptxP3  strains affect fitness by contributing to the ability to colonize in a mouse infection model. These results show that the genetic background of  ptxP3  strains with a higher expression of virulence genes contribute to increased fitness.

plos one

Genome-Wide Gene Expression Analysis of Bordetella pertussis Isolates Associated with a Resurgence in Pertussis: Elucidation of Factors Involved in the Increased Fitness of Epidemic Strains