Abstract
The pigmentation (pgm) locus is a large unstable area of the Yersinia pestis chromosome composed of a segment of iron acquisition (HPI) linked to a pigmentation segment. In this work we examined the mobility of HPI and the pigmentation segment in three Y. pestis isolates using successive subcultures on Congo red agar (CRA) plates. Strain P. CE 882 was shown to be highly stable while strains P. Exu 340 and P. Peru 375 dissociated into several phenotypes, PCR analysis showing evidence of changes in the pgm locus of the derived cultures. Strains P. Exu 340 and P. Peru 375 produced previously unreported cultures positive for the pesticin/yersiniabactin outer membrane receptor (psn+) but negative for the iron-regulated protein (irp2-), suggesting the occurrence of rearrangements in this chromosomal region and either a sequential loss or the loss of separated segments. These results provide evidence that besides deletion en bloc, specific rearrangements are also involved in the deletion events for that locus.
Highlights
The genus Yersinia (Enterobacteriaceae) contains 11 species, three of which, pestis and the enteropathogens pseudotuberculosis and enterocolitica, are pathogenic in humans (Perry and Fetherston, 1997), with plague strains as well as enterocolitica biotype 1B and pseudotuberculosis serogroups I and III being highly pathogenic in mice (Carniel, 2001)
All pathogenic strains of Yersinia carry the conserved 70-kb plasmid associated with Yersinia virulence which is essential for virulence, with Y. pestis harboring two other plasmids that are necessary for the expression of complete virulence in this organism (Perry and Fetherston, 1997)
In the Y. pestis iron acquisition segment there is a cluster of genes formed by the iron-regulated protein, yersiniabactin siderophore biosynthetic protein and the pesticin/yersiniabactin outer membrane receptor cluster (called the psn cluster in Y. pestis or the pesticin/yersiniabactin receptor protein cluster in Y. enterocolitica) which is involved in the biosynthesis of the yersiniae-siderophore
Summary
The genus Yersinia (Enterobacteriaceae) contains 11 species, three of which, pestis (causing bubonic plague) and the enteropathogens pseudotuberculosis and enterocolitica, are pathogenic in humans (Perry and Fetherston, 1997), with plague strains as well as enterocolitica biotype 1B and pseudotuberculosis serogroups I and III being highly pathogenic in mice (Carniel, 2001). Peru 375 were analyzed for the presence of genes from the iron acquisition (psn, ybtE, irp2) and the pigmentation segments (hmsH) using PCR with primers derived from published sequences (Rakin and Heeseman, 1995; Buchrieser et al 1999; Guilvout et al 1993; Schubert et al 1998).
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