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. 1984 Aug;45(2):528–530. doi: 10.1128/iai.45.2.528-530.1984

Hemolysin of Streptococcus faecalis subspecies zymogenes contributes to virulence in mice.

Y Ike, H Hashimoto, D B Clewell
PMCID: PMC263283  PMID: 6086531

Abstract

The conjugative plasmid pAD1 (56.7 kilobases) in Streptococcus faecalis confers hemolysin-bacteriocin (Hly-Bcn) expression and a mating response to the sex pheromone cAD1 excreted by recipient cells. We examined the contribution of hemolysin to pathogenicity in intraperitoneally infected mice by using Tn916 and Tn917 insertion mutants altered in hemolysin expression. Strains exhibiting the normal hemolysin phenotype were significantly more virulent than the nonhemolytic insertion mutants. A mutant plasmid with an increased copy number which gave rise to a larger-than-normal zone of hemolysis on blood agar rendered host strains more virulent than the wild-type streptococci in mice.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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