期刊
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
卷 2, 期 -, 页码 -出版社
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2011.00083
关键词
Francisella tularensis; capBCA; fitness; virulence; macrophage
类别
资金
- Tsinghua University
- Chinese Universities Scientific Fund [2009-3-03]
- Commonwealth of Kentucky Research Challenge Trust Fund
- NIH [R21AI083963, P01AI056320, R01AI43965]
Francisella tularensis is the causative agent of tularemia and a category A bioterrorism agent. The molecular basis for the extreme virulence of F. tularensis remains unclear. Our recent study found that capBCA, three neighboring genes, are necessary for the infection of F. tularensis live vaccine strain (LVS) in a respiratory infection mouse model. We here show that the capBCA genes are necessary for in vivo growth of F. tularensis LVS in the lungs, spleens, and livers of BALB/c mice. Unmarked deletion of capBCA in type A strain Schu S4 resulted in significant attenuation in virulence although the level of the attenuation in Schu S4 was much less profound than in LVS. We further demonstrated that CapB protein is produced at a low level under the in vitro culture conditions, and capB alone is necessary for in vivo growth of F. tularensis LVS in the lungs of BALB/c mice. Finally, deletional mutations in capB alone or capBCA significantly impaired intracellular growth of F. tularensis LVS in cultured macrophages, thus suggesting that the capBCA genes are necessary for intracellular adaptation of F. tularensis. The requirement of this gene locus in intracellular adaption at least in part explains the significant attenuation of F. tularensis capBCA mutants in virulence.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据