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: Group B streptococcus (GBS) induces apoptosis in macrophages. Growth conditions minimizing [beta]-hemolysin expression, such as high glucose, reduce apoptosis. We constructed an isogenic mutant strain of GBS 874391 lacking the [beta]-hemolysin structural gene cylE and investigated the role that [beta]-hemolysin plays in apoptosis of J774 macrophages. Viability of macrophages infected with wild-type or cylE GBS was similar and significantly less than that of macrophages infected with GBS grown in high-glucose media. Thus, apoptosis in GBS-infected macrophages is dependent not on [beta]-hemolysin but on a factor coregulated with [beta]-hemolysin by glucose

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