title: Transcriptome analysis of Yersinia pestis in human plasma: an approach for discovering bacterial genes involved in septicaemic plague.
abstract: Yersinia pestis is the aetiologic agent of plague. Without appropriate treatment, the pathogen rapidly causes septicaemia, the terminal and fatal phase of the disease. In order to identify bacterial genes which are essential during septicaemic plague in humans, we performed a transcriptome analysis on the fully virulent Y. pestis CO92 strain grown in either decomplemented human plasma or Luria-Bertani medium, incubated at either 28 or 37 degrees C and harvested at either the mid-exponential or the stationary growth phase. Y. pestis genes involved in 12 iron-acquisition systems and one iron-storage system (bfr, bfd) were specifically induced in human plasma. Of these, the ybt and tonB genes (encoding the yersiniabactin siderophore virulence factor and the siderophore transporter, respectively) were induced at 37 degrees C, i.e. under conditions mimicking the mammalian environment. Growth in human plasma also upregulated genes involved in the synthesis of five fimbrial-like structures (including the Psa virulence factor), and in purine/pyrimidine metabolism (the nrd genes). Genes known to play a role in the virulence of several bacterial pathogens (such as those encoding the Lpp lipoprotein and non-iron metal-uptake proteins) were induced in human plasma, during either the exponential or the stationary phase. Finally, 120 genes encoding proteins of unknown function were upregulated in human plasma. Eleven of these genes were specifically transcribed at 37 degrees C and may thus represent new virulence factors that are important during the septicaemic phase of human plague.
authors.affiliation: Yersinia Research Unit, Institut Pasteur, 28 rue du Dr. Roux, F-75724 Paris cedex 15, France.
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chauvaux
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur de Lille, Lille, France.
authors.forename: Marie-Laure
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Rosso
authors.affiliation: Plate-Forme 4, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Lionel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Frangeul
authors.affiliation: Plate-Forme 2, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lacroix
authors.affiliation: Génoscope, Evry, France.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Labarre
authors.affiliation: Plate-Forme 2, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Angèle
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schiavo
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur de Lille, Lille, France.
authors.forename: Michaël
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marceau
authors.affiliation: Plate-Forme 2, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Marie-Agnès
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Dillies
authors.affiliation: Yersinia Research Unit, Institut Pasteur, 28 rue du Dr. Roux, F-75724 Paris cedex 15, France.
authors.forename: Jeannine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Foulon
authors.affiliation: Plate-Forme 2, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Yves
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Coppée
authors.affiliation: Génoscope, Evry, France.
authors.forename: Claudine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Médigue
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur de Lille, Lille, France.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simonet
authors.affiliation: Yersinia Research Unit, Institut Pasteur, 28 rue du Dr. Roux, F-75724 Paris cedex 15, France.
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Carniel
mesh_terms: D016470:Bacteremia / Q000382:microbiology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D003470:Culture Media; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D010930:Plague / Q000382:microbiology; D010949:Plasma / Q000382:microbiology*; D020543:Proteome; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D015010:Yersinia pestis / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D003470:Culture Media; D020543:Proteome