title: Delta-pgm, a new live-attenuated vaccine against Brucella suis.
abstract: Brucellosis is one of the most widespread zoonosis in the world affecting many domestic and wild animals including bovines, goats, pigs and dogs. Each species of the Brucella genus has a particular tropism toward different mammals being the most relevant for human health Brucella abortus, Brucella melitensis and Brucella suis that infect bovines, goats/camelids and swine respectively. Although for B. abortus and B. melitensis there are vaccines available, there is no efficient vaccine to protect swine from B. suis infection so far. We describe here the construction of a novel vaccine strain that confers excellent protection against B. suis in a mouse model of infection. This strain is a clean deletion of the phosphoglucomutase (pgm) gene that codes for a protein that catalyzes the conversion of glucose-6-P to glucose-1-P, which is used as a precursor for the biosynthesis of many polysaccharides. The Delta-pgm strain lacks a complete lipopolysaccharide, is unable to synthesize cyclic beta glucans and is sensitive to several detergents and Polymyxin B. We show that this strain replicates in cultured cells, is completely avirulent in the mouse model of infection but protects against a challenge of the virulent strain inducing the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This novel strain could be an excellent candidate for the control of swine brucellosis, a disease of emerging concern in many parts of the world.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Rodolfo A. Ugalde", IIB-INTECH, CONICET, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: czibener@iibintech.com.ar.
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Czibener
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Rodolfo A. Ugalde", IIB-INTECH, CONICET, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Mariela Giselda
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Del Giudice
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Rodolfo A. Ugalde", IIB-INTECH, CONICET, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Juan Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Spera
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Rodolfo A. Ugalde", IIB-INTECH, CONICET, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Fabiana Rosa
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Fulgenzi
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Rodolfo A. Ugalde", IIB-INTECH, CONICET, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: jugalde@iibintech.com.ar.
authors.forename: Juan Esteban
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Ugalde
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D002004:Brucella Vaccine / Q000276:immunology*; D041021:Brucella suis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002460:Cell Line; D005260:Female; D017353:Gene Deletion; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010733:Phosphoglucomutase / Q000235:genetics*; D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated / Q000276:immunology; D047071:beta-Glucans / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D002004:Brucella Vaccine; D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated; D047071:beta-Glucans; D010733:Phosphoglucomutase
keywords: Brucella suis; Live vaccine