Role of the Yersinia pestis yersiniabactin iron acquisition system in the incidence of flea-borne plague.

Abstract

Plague is a flea-borne zoonosis caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Y. pestis mutants lacking the yersiniabactin (Ybt) siderophore-based iron transport system are avirulent when inoculated intradermally but fully virulent when inoculated intravenously in mice. Presumably, Ybt is required to provide sufficient iron at the peripheral injection site, suggesting that Ybt would be an essential virulence factor for flea-borne plague. Here, using a flea-to-mouse transmission model, we show that a Y. pestis strain lacking the Ybt system causes fatal plague at low incidence when transmitted by fleas. Bacteriology and histology analyses revealed that a Ybt-negative strain caused only primary septicemic plague and atypical bubonic plague instead of the typical bubonic form of disease. The results provide new evidence that primary septicemic plague is a distinct clinical entity and suggest that unusual forms of plague may be caused by atypical Y. pestis strains.

• Authors: Florent Sebbane, Clayton Jarrett, Donald Gardner, Daniel Long, B Joseph Hinnebusch
• Journal: PloS one (PLoS One) Vol. 5 Issue 12 Pg. e14379 (Dec 17 2010) ISSN: 1932-6203 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 21179420 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Phenols
• Thiazoles
• Virulence Factors
• yersiniabactin
• Iron

Topics

• Animals
• Female
• Immune System
• Iron (chemistry, metabolism)
• Lymph Nodes (metabolism)
• Mice
• Mutation
• Phenols (metabolism)
• Plague (diagnosis, epidemiology, microbiology, transmission)
• Siphonaptera
• Species Specificity
• Thiazoles (metabolism)
• Virulence Factors
• Yersinia pestis (metabolism)