Bacterial Pathogens and Disease 1 (exotoxins) Flashcards
Define pathogen?
A microorganism capable of causing disease
Define pathogenicity?
Ability of an infectious agent to cause disease
Define virulence
Quantitative ability of agent to cause disease
Define toxigenicity
Ability of micro-organism to produce a toxin that contributes to the development of disease (not cause the disease)
What are the 4 mechanisms of virulence?
1) adherence factors
2) biofilms
3) invasion of host cells and tissues
4) toxins (endotoxins and exotoxins)
What are adherence factors?
proteins that allow bacteria to attach to surfaces
What is a biofilm?
allows cells to each other and to surfaces - allows to produce communities
When are endotoxins vs exotoxins released?
endotoxins - When the bacteria is killed
exotoxins - bacteria releases directly into environment
What are exotoxins?
Heterogeneous group of proteins produced and secreted by LIVING bacterial cells
What types of bacteria produces exotoxins?
Gram negative and gram positive bacteria
What effect does exotoxins have?
cause disease symptoms during disease
What else can exotoxins do apart from cause disease symptoms allowing exotoxins to be selectively advantageous component in bacteria?
Evade immune response
Enable biofilm formation
Enable attachment to host cells
Escape phagosome
Why are exotoxins good/bad for bacteria to release?
bad because causes disease = host may be evolutionary dead end = not advantageous
Good - allows colonisation, niche establishment and carriage
Where is staphylococcus aureus found?
In the nose - carried in humans asymptomatically
What toxins are released by S. aureus?
Haemolytic toxins and phenol soluble modulines (PSM)
cc
cc
What genes code for exotoxins? + examples
Most in extrachromosomal genes e.g. plasmids (tetanus toxin) and lysogenic bacteriophage (diptheria toxin)
Some in chromosomal genes e.g shiga toxin in shigella dysenteriae
What are the 3 types of exotoxins?
Type 1 - membrane acting toxins
Type 2 - membrane damaging toxins
Type 3 - intracellular toxins
Why is it hard to classify toxins into type1, 2 and 3?
Many toxin have more than one type of activity
What do membrane acting toxins (type 1) do?
Act from outside the cell to interfere with host cell signalling by inappropriate activation of host cell receptors
What does membrane acting toxins target? - 4 target mechanisms
Target receptors
- guanylyl cyclase causes increase in intracellular cGMP
- adenyl cyclase causes increase in intracellular cAMP
- Rho proteins
- Ras proteins
What is an example of type 1 toxin?
E coli stable heat toxin
Describe the action of e coli stable heat toxin (type 1 toxin)? step by step
1) Stable heat toxin binds to specific binding receptor (guanine cyclase receptor) on the membrane causing increase in intracellular cGMP
2) cGMP either
- acts on CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) to pump out Cl- and HCO3-
- increase cAMP levels which inhibit the pump which pumps out H+ and brings in Na+
3) Cl-, HCO3- and Na= all build up outside the cell, salt (NaCl) outside means water follows by osmosis leading to diarrhoea (disease symptom)
What are the 2 types of type 2 (membrane damaging) toxins?
1) receptor mediated (insert channels into host cell membrane - beta sheet toxins and alpha helix toxins)
2) receptor independent (enzymatical damage to membrane)
Give an example fo receptor mediated type 2 toxin?
alpha toxin(beta sheet toxin), diptheria toxin (alpha helix toxin)
Give an example of enzymatical damage based type 2 toxin?
beta haemolysin and PSM’s
What are the steps for receptor mediated toxin mechanism to cause damage to host cell membrane?
1) receptor binding (toxin binds to toxin specific receptor on host cell)
2) formation of defined pores made up of the toxin (polymerisation)
What are the steps for receptor independent toxin mediated mechanism to cause damage to host cell membrane?
1) toxin attaches to membrane
2) membrane disintegrates
3) formation of short lived pores