Insertional inactivation of hblC encoding the L2 component of Bacillus cereus ATCC 14579 haemolysin BL strongly reduces enterotoxigenic activity, but not the haemolytic activity against human erythrocytes

Haemolysin BL (HBL) is a Bacillus cereus toxin composed of a binding component, B, and two lytic components, L1 and L2. HBL is also the enterotoxin responsible for the diarrhoeal food poisoning syndrome caused by several strains of B. cereus. The three genes encoding the HBL components constitute an operon and are transcribed from a promoter 608 bp upstream of the hblC translational start site. The first gene of the hbl operon, hblC, in the B. cereus type strain, ATCC 14579, was inactivated in this study. Inactivation of hblC strongly reduced both the enterotoxigenic activity of B. cereus ATCC 14579 and the haemolytic activity against sheep erythrocytes, while maintaining full haemolytic activity against human erythrocytes.