title: Effect of metC mutation on Salmonella Gallinarum virulence and invasiveness in 1-day-old White Leghorn chickens.
abstract: Salmonella enterica serotype Gallinarum (S. Gallinarum) is the causative agent of fowl typhoid (FT) in chickens. FT is a severe systemic disease of chickens causing heavy economic losses to the poultry industry through mortality, reduced egg production and culling of precious breeding stocks. In this study, a metC (encoding cystathionine beta lyase) mutant was produced from a virulent strain of S. Gallinarum by Mini-Tn5 insertional inactivation. The mutant was significantly attenuated in virulence for 1-day-old White Leghorn chickens. Inactivation of metC resulted in 10(4)-fold increase in the LD50 when compared with the wild type parent. The metC mutant showed an in vivo competitiveness defect in the challenged chickens and significantly lower (P < 0.01) bacterial burden in the reticuloendothelial organs when compared with the wild-type parent. These results indicate that metC gene is important for virulence of S. Gallinarum in chickens.
authors.affiliation: Bio-Safety Research Institute, College of Veterinary Medicine, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Jeonbuk 561-756, South Korea. dhshah99@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Devendra H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: Smriti
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shringi
authors.forename: Atul R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Desai
authors.forename: Eun-Jeong
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Heo
authors.forename: Jin-Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Joon-Seok
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Chae
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D007928:Lethal Dose 50; D008190:Lyases / Q000235:genetics*; D009154:Mutation; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D012481:Salmonella Infections, Animal / Q000382:microbiology*; D019779:Salmonella enterica / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D008190:Lyases; C019965:cystathionine beta-lyase