These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Cloning and expression of Clostridium difficile toxin A gene (tcdA) by PCR amplification and use of an expression vector.
    Author: Ackermann G, Löffler B, Tang-Feldman YJ, Cohen SH, Silva J, Rodloff AC.
    Journal: Mol Cell Probes; 2004 Aug; 18(4):271-4. PubMed ID: 15271388.
    Abstract:
    Toxigenic Clostridium difficile isolates harbor a 19 kb pathogenicity locus that encodes the genes for toxins A and B. Toxins A and B are among the largest known bacterial toxins expressing potent cytotoxicity and enterotoxicity, and thus the major virulence factors in C. difficile associated diarrhea. Cloning and sequencing of toxin genes is of interest for studies of molecular pathogenesis. We report the amplification and cloning of the complete toxin A gene into an Escherichia coli expression vector. Ten clones analyzed contained the complete toxin A gene. Four of these clones showed cytotoxic activity in cell culture, and were positive for toxin A as determined by ELISA. Toxin A expression was confirmed by Western immunoblot analysis. The presence of cytotoxic activity in cell culture suggests that toxin A activity is independent of other genes in the pathogenicity locus.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]