Role of the wbt locus of Francisella tularensis in lipopolysaccharide O-antigen biogenesis and pathogenicity.
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.
Raynaud
Catherine
C
Université Paris Descartes, Faculté de Médecine René Descartes, Paris F-75015, France.
Meibom
Karin L
KL
Lety
Marie-Annick
MA
Dubail
Iharilalao
I
Candela
Thomas
T
Frapy
Eric
E
Charbit
Alain
A
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
D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D019081:O Antigens