title: Hyaluronidase is not essential for the lethality of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae infection in mice.
abstract: To investigate the role of hyaluronidase in the pathogenicity of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, transposon Tn916 was transferred from Enterococcus faecalis CG110 to a virulent strain of E. rhusiopathiae, and hyaluronidase-deficient mutants were isolated. A virulence assay in the mice showed that of the seven hyaluronidase-deficient mutants tested, six mutants were avirulent, but that one mutant, designated AST121, was as virulent as its parental strain. Western immunoblotting with a monoclonal antibody specific to the capsule, a major virulence factor of the organism, revealed that all of the avirulent mutants had lost the capsular antigen, whereas the mutant AST121 did not. These results suggest that the lack of virulence of the six hyaluronidase-negative mutants could be due to a loss of the capsule and that hyaluronidase does not contribute to the lethality of E. rhusiopathiae infection in mice.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Animal Health, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimoji
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Asato
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sekizaki
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yokomizo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016667:Bacterial Capsules / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004888:Erysipelothrix / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D004889:Erysipelothrix Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D006821:Hyaluronoglucosaminidase / Q000378:metabolism*; D007928:Lethal Dose 50; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009154:Mutation; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D006821:Hyaluronoglucosaminidase