Education
Postdoc, NYU School of Medicine
PhD in Microbiology and Cell Biology, Penn State University
Academic Affiliation(s)
Professor, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Research
Our laboratory studies bacterial pathogenesis. Specifically, we focus on enteric diseases caused by Clostridium perfringens type A (including C. perfringens type A food poisoning, which is the second most common bacterial foodborne illness in the USA and several nonfoodborne human GI illnesses, notably antibiotic-associated diarrhea and sporadic diarrhea), and several veterinary enterotoxemias caused by type B-D isolates. Type B and D infections are of particular interest because they involve epsilon toxin, a class B CDC/USDA overlap select toxin.
Lab Personnel
Jihong Li, Research Instructor
Jianming Chen, Research Associate
Menglin Ma, Research Associate
Archana Shrestha, Research Associate
James Theoret, Postdoc
John Courtland Freedman, Postdoc
Areas of Interest
Bacterial toxins, bacterial pathogenesis, regulation of virulence, toxin plasmids
Publications
Vidal J. E, Ma M, Saputo J, Garcia J, Uzal F. A, and McClane B. A. Evidence that the Agr-like quorum sensing system regulates the toxin production, cytotoxicity and pathogenicity of Clostridium perfringens type C isolate CN3685. Mol Microbiol. 83: 179-194. | View Abstract
Ma M, Vidal J, Saputo J, McClane B. A, and Uzal F. The VirS/VirR two-component system regulates the anaerobic cytotoxicity, intestinal pathogenicity, and enterotoxemic lethality of Clostridium perfringens type C isolate CN3685. MBio. 2: e00338-10. | View Abstract
Li J, Sayeed S, Robertson S, Chen J, and McClane B. A. Sialidases affect the host cell adherence and epsilon toxin-induced cytotoxicity of Clostridium perfringens type D strain CN3718. PLoS Pathog. 7: e1002429. | View Abstract
Chen J, Rood J. I, and McClane B. A. Epsilon-toxin production by Clostridium perfringens type D strain CN3718 is dependent upon the agr operon but not the VirS/VirR two-component regulatory system. MBio. 2: e00275-11. | View Abstract
Briggs D. C, Naylor C. E, Smedley J. G, 3rd, Lukoyanova N, Robertson S, Moss D. S, McClane B. A, and Basak A. K. Structure of the food-poisoning Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin reveals similarity to the aerolysin-like pore-forming toxins. J Mol Biol. 413: 138-149. | View Abstract
Vidal J. E, Ohtani K, Shimizu T, and McClane B. A. Contact with enterocyte-like Caco-2 cells induces rapid upregulation of toxin production by Clostridium perfringens type C isolates. Cell Microbiol. 11: 1306-1328. | View Abstract
Li J, and McClane B. A. A novel small acid soluble protein variant is important for spore resistance of most Clostridium perfringens food poisoning isolates. PLoS Pathog. 4: e1000056 | View Abstract