title: Essential role of invasin for colonization and persistence of Yersinia enterocolitica in its natural reservoir host, the pig.
abstract: In this study, an oral minipig infection model was established to investigate the pathogenicity of Yersinia enterocolitica bioserotype 4/O:3. O:3 strains are highly prevalent in pigs, which are usually symptomless carriers, and they represent the most common cause of human yersiniosis. To assess the pathogenic potential of the O:3 serotype, we compared the colonization properties of Y. enterocolitica O:3 with O:8, a highly mouse-virulent Y. enterocolitica serotype, in minipigs and mice. We found that O:3 is a significantly better colonizer of swine than is O:8. Coinfection studies with O:3 mutant strains demonstrated that small variations within the O:3 genome leading to higher amounts of the primary adhesion factor invasin (InvA) improved colonization and/or survival of this serotype in swine but had only a minor effect on the colonization of mice. We further demonstrated that a deletion of the invA gene abolished long-term colonization in the pigs. Our results indicate a primary role for invasin in naturally occurring Y. enterocolitica O:3 infections in pigs and reveal a higher adaptation of O:3 than O:8 strains to their natural pig reservoir host.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Infection Biology, Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schaake
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Drees
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Grüning
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Uliczka
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pisano
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Thiermann
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: von Altrock
authors.forename: Frauke
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Seehusen
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Valentin-Weigand
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dersch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D007082:Ileum / Q000382:microbiology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D013552:Swine / Q000382:microbiology*; D015009:Yersinia Infections / Q000235:genetics*; D015008:Yersinia enterocolitica / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C075518:invA protein, Bacteria