The production of Bordetella pertussis extracytoplasmic filamentous haemagglutinin (FHA) and pertussis toxin (PT) in a bioreactor under stirring conditions was studied in order to investigate the effect of hydromechanical forces on yields of both antigens. It was shown that FHA loses its haemagglutinin activity when the power transmitted by the agitator and the aerator per unit volume increases, whereas PT production is not affected. The loss of FHA activity can be explained by the action of shear forces on the filamentous structure of this antigen.
The activity of Bordetella pertussis extracytoplasmic adenylate cyclase (AC) decreased during decelerating growth phase in a Stainer-Scholte medium. Neither proteolytic activity nor virulence variation (phase variation; antigenic modulation) appears to be responsible for the observed activity fall. The addition of methyl-β-cyclo-dextrin enhances AC activity and prevents the inhibition of AC activity by fatty acids. Cyclodextrin could entrap inhibitors increasing in this way the AC activity. These results show that the inclusion of cyclodextrin in the culture medium increases the AC activity.
The kinetics of Bordetella pertussis growth was studied in a glutamate-limited continuous culture. Growth kinetics corresponded to Monod's model. The saturation constant and maximum specific growth rate were estimated as well as the energetic parameters, theoretical yield of cells and maintenance coefficient. Release of pertussis toxin (PT) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were growth-associated. In addition, they showed a linear relationship between them. Growth rate affected neither outer membrane proteins nor the cell-bound LPS pattern.
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