Rl. Deresiewicz et al., SEQUENCE OF THE TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME TOXIN GENE (TSTH) BORNE BY STRAINS OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS-AUREUS ISOLATED FROM PATIENTS WITH KAWASAKI SYNDROME, Infection and immunity, 64(8), 1996, pp. 3394-3396
To explore whether a novel staphylococcal clone or structural variant
of toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 is associated with Kawasaki syndrome,
six toxigenic strains of Staphylococcus aureus from Kawasaki syndrome
patients were studied. The strains were divisible into two groups base
d on phenotypic and genotypic characteristics and are therefore unequi
vocally not clonal. Portions of the tstH genes of each strain were seq
uenced. Three were sequenced in their entirety, while the remainder we
re sequenced from codon 66 to codon 137 of the mature protein only. Tw
o of the former group differed slightly in the sequences of their sign
al peptides relative to the sequence published for the tstH signal pep
tide. Those differences did not affect toxin processing or secretion.
The sequenced portions of the regions encoding mature toxic shock synd
rome toxin 1 were identical in all six strains and corresponded exactl
y to the published sequence of tstH. No evidence was found for the exi
stence of a structural variant of tstH uniquely associated with Kawasa
ki syndrome.