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Bordetella pertussis produces a calmodulin‐sensitive adenylate cyclase (AC) which is an essential virulence factor in mammalian pertussis. Here we report the purification and characterization of the toxic form of the enzyme, which penetrates eukaryotic cells and generates high levels of intracellular cAMP. This form was purified from an extract of B.pertussis strain carrying a recombinant plasmid which over‐produced both enzymatic and toxic activities of the enzyme. Western blot analysis of the extract using anti‐B.pertussis AC antibodies detected only one protein of 200 kd. However, gel filtration of the extract resolved two peaks of enzymatic activity. The first peak of aggregated material contained greater than 70% of the total enzymatic activity, and the second peak contained the majority of the toxic activity. Purification of the enzyme from both peaks yielded proteins of 200 kd, with similar biochemical and immunological properties. Yet only the enzyme purified from the second peak could penetrate human lymphocyte and catalyse the formation of intracellular cAMP. B.pertussis AC gene expressed in Escherichia coli produced a calmodulin‐dependent enzyme of 200 kd, which lacked lymphocyte penetration capacity. It is proposed that a post‐translational modification that occurs in B.pertussis but not in E.coli confers upon the 200 kd protein of B.pertussis AC the toxic properties.

To determine the value of gene markers for surveillance and to assess the genetic stability of potential acellular pertussis vaccine components, the sequence variation in ten virulence-related genes of Bordetella pertussis was investigated in strains isolated in the UK between 1920 and 2002. These genes encode: pertactin (prnA); pertussis toxin subunits S1 (ptxA) and S3 (ptxC); tracheal colonization factor (tcfA); bordetella autotransporter protein C (bapC); bordetella resistance to killing protein (brkA); fimbrial antigen 2 (fim2); outer-membrane protein Q (ompQ); virulence-activated gene 8 (vag8) and adenylate cyclase toxin (cyaA). The encoded proteins are either components of current acellular vaccines (ACVs), or potential virulence markers for B. pertussis. Three strains used in the pertussis UK whole-cell vaccine (WCV), strain Tohama-I used for production of ACV components and the type strain of B. pertussis (18323 T ) were also analysed. Several novel alleles were found. The UK isolates were assigned multi-locus sequence types (MLSTs) according to a previously described scheme for B. pertussis based on three of these genes (ptxA, ptxC and tcfA). Compared with isolates from other countries, the UK clinical strains showed a distinct distribution of MLSTs. Apart from one strain that was MLST-3, all other recent isolates (2000)(2001)(2002) were identified as MLST-5. These isolates differed from the three WCV strains, which were MLST-2 or MLST-3, the Tohama-I strain (MLST-2) and the type strain of B. pertussis (MLST-9). MLST-3 and MLST-5 differ only by a single synonymous mutation, but this method does indicate that currently circulating strains of B. pertussis are not identical to the vaccine types, and they may differ in other important characteristics. Two new MLSTs were identified amongst historical UK isolates. Sequence-based typing offers a convenient method of analysing and comparing populations of B. pertussis from different time periods and from different countries. The variation exhibited by prnA and fim2 suggests that they could be useful, additional epidemiological markers in such a typing scheme.