title: Role of the wbt locus of Francisella tularensis in lipopolysaccharide O-antigen biogenesis and pathogenicity.
abstract: Francisella tularensis is a highly infectious bacterial pathogen, responsible for the zoonotic disease tularemia. We screened a bank of transposon insertion mutants of F. tularensis subsp. holarctica LVS for colony morphology alterations and selected a mutant with a transposon insertion in wbtA, the first gene of the predicted lipopolysaccharide O-antigen gene cluster. Inactivation of wbtA led to the complete loss of O antigen, conferred serum sensitivity, impaired intracellular replication, and severely attenuated virulence in the mouse model. Notably, this mutant afforded protection against a challenge against virulent LVS.
authors.affiliation: Université Paris Descartes, Faculté de Médecine René Descartes, Paris F-75015, France.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Raynaud
authors.forename: Karin L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Meibom
authors.forename: Marie-Annick
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lety
authors.forename: Iharilalao
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dubail
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Candela
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Frapy
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Charbit
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D005260:Female; D005604:Francisella tularensis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D005810:Multigene Family; D016296:Mutagenesis; D019081:O Antigens / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014406:Tularemia / Q000276:immunology; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D019081:O Antigens