L1: Bacterial pathogens & disease- EXOTOXINS Flashcards
Define pathogen
→microorganism capable of causing disease
Define pathogenicity
→ability of an infectious agent to cause disease
Define virulence
→The quantitative ability of an agent to cause disease.
Define toxigenicity
→ability of a microorganism to produce a toxin that contributes to the development of disease
What are the 4 virulence mechanisms of bacteria?
→Adherence Factors
→Biofilms
→Invasion of Host Cells and Tissues
→Toxins – endotoxins and exotoxins
What are exotoxins and how do they act by?
→Heterogeneous group of proteins produced and secreted by living bacterial cells
Act by variety of diverse mechanisms
What are exotoxins produced by?
→both gram negative and gram-positive bacteria
What do exotoxins cause?
→symptoms in host during disease
What selective advantages do exotoxins give to the bacteria?
→help transmission of disease → in severe disease, host may be a dead end →Evade immune response →Enable biofilm formation →Enable attachment to host cells. →Escape from phagosomes
remember: bacteria do not want to cause disease they want to survive so although they cause disease in host tissue, severe disease will kill them
ALL ALLOW FOR:
→colonisation,
→niche establishment
→carriage
What other activities in which exotoxins give a selective advantage to bacteria?
→Evade immune response
→Enable biofilm formation
→Enable attachment to host cells.
→Escape from phagosomes
What do all of the exotoxins activity allow?
→colonisation,
→niche establishment
→carriage
What are haemolytic toxins?
→cause cells to lyse by forming pores
What type toxins does Staphylococcus aureus have?
→haemolytic toxins
What are the types of haemolytic toxins?
→α,β,𝛾, toxins ,
→Panton Valentine Leukocidin (PVL),
→LukAB, LukED, LukMF
What are PSMs?
→Phenol soluble modulins
→Aggregate the lipid bilayer of host cells - causing lysis
Where in the body are majority of S.aureus aymptomatic carriage?
→in the nose
What do alpha and beta toxins allow in S.Aureus?
→allow for attachment
alpha - initial attachement
beta- accumulation
What do PSMs allow in S.Aureus?
→allows bacteria to escape phagosome
→kills other bacteria
What are exotoxins encoded by?
→chromosomal genes: Shiga toxin in Shigella dysenteriae,
→TcdA & TcdB in C. difficile
Give 2 examples of a plasmid with toxins encoded by extrachromosomal genes
→Bacillus anthracis toxin,
→tetanus toxin
Give examples of lysogenic bacteriophage with toxins encoded by extrachromosomal genes
→streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxins in
→Scarlet Fever,
→Diphtheria toxin
What are the classifications of exotoxins?
Classification by the toxins activity (hint: 3)
→Membrane Acting Toxins – Type I
→Membrane Damaging Toxins – Type II
→Intracellular Toxins – Type III
What are the problems of toxin activity classification of toxins?
→Many toxins may have more than one type activity
Where do Type I membrane acting toxins act from?
→Act from without the cell
What do Type I toxins interfere with?
→with host cell signaling by inappropriate activation of host cell receptors
What do Type I toxins target? (which target receptors)
→Guanylyl cyclase → ↑ intracellular cGMP
→Adenyl cyclase → ↑ intracellular cAMP
→Rho proteins
→Ras proteins
What effect does Type I toxins have on cGMP and cAMP?
→ ↑ intracellular cGMP
→ ↑ intracellular cAMP
What is an important feature of Type I E.coli toxin?
→stable heat toxin
What are the effects of increased cGMP signalling because of E.coli toxin?
→Dysregulated secretion of Cl and bicarbonate ions (cGMP -> + PKGII -> +-> Cl- HCO3)
→Effect on Na/K pump so increased Na secretion
→ if in colon then diarrhoea