title: Virulence characteristics of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli deletion of gene encoding the outer membrane protein X.
abstract: Outer membrane protein X (OmpX) and its homologues have been proposed to contribute to the virulence in various bacterial species. But, their role in virulence of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) is yet to be determined. This study evaluates the role of OmpX in ExPEC virulence in vitro and in vivo using a clinical strain PPECC42 of porcine origin. The ompX deletion mutant exhibited increased swimming motility and decreased adhesion to, and invasion of pulmonary epithelial A549 cell, compared to the wild-type strain. A mild increase in LD50 and distinct decrease in bacterial load in such organs as heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney were observed in mice infected with the ompX mutant. Complementation of the complete ompX gene in trans restored the virulence of mutant strain to the level of wild-type strain. Our results reveal that OmpX contributes to ExPEC virulence, but may be not an indispensable virulence determinant.
authors.affiliation: State Key Lab of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors.forename: Xianrong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Xueling
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Liyuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Binyou
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Zili
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Shaowen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000072283:A549 Cells / Q000382:microbiology; D000818:Animals; D058491:Bacterial Load; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D000072282:Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D017353:Gene Deletion; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D006867:Hydrolases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C482905:OmpX protein, E coli; D006867:Hydrolases