Pesticins. 3. Expression of coagulase and mechanism of fibrinolysis

Abstract

Mutational loss of pesticin I, a bacteriocin-like substance produced by Pasteurella pestis, is known to result in concomitant loss of a coagulase and fibrinolytic factor. No relationship was detected between pesticinogeny and other tested properties either associated with virulence or peculiar to P. pestis. Pesticin I was distinguished from the coagulase and fibrinolytic activities on the basis of anatomical distribution, behavior during gel filtration, and sensitivity to heat. Coagulase and the fibrinolytic factor were not differentiated by these criteria. Spontaneous suppressor mutations causing reversion to pesticinogeny were not detected, nor were such mutants obtained by treatment with ultraviolet light or 2-aminopurine. Attempts to demonstrate a common activator of pesticin I, coagulase, or the fibrinolytic factor in extracts of pesticinogenic cells were not successful. These results are in accord with the hypothesis that at least two structural genes for the three activities reside on a replicon distinct from the chromosome proper. Fibrinolytic activity was significantly reduced in the presence of 0.003 m epsilon-aminocaproic acid and was nonexistent on fibrin films freed from endogenous plasminogen by treatment with heat. Fibrinolytic activity on heated films could be restored by addition of plasma or serum from six mammalian species. Accordingly, the plague fibrinolytic factor, like staphylokinase or urokinase, promotes the conversion of plasminogen to plasmin.