Role of the wbt Locus of Francisella tularensis in Lipopolysaccharide O-Antigen Biogenesis and Pathogenicity

Francisella tularensis is a highly infectious bacterial pathogen, responsible for the zoonotic disease tularemia. We screened a bank of transposon insertion mutants of F. tularensis subsp. holarctica LVS for colony morphology alterations and selected a mutant with a transposon insertion in wbtA, the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Infection and Immunity 2007-01, Vol.75 (1), p.536-541
Main Authors: Raynaud, Catherine, Meibom, Karin L, Lety, Marie-Annick, Dubail, Iharilalao, Candela, Thomas, Frapy, Eric, Charbit, Alain
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Bacteriology
Biological and medical sciences
DNA Transposable Elements
Female
Francisella tularensis
Francisella tularensis - genetics
Francisella tularensis - immunology
Francisella tularensis - pathogenicity
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genes, Bacterial
Mice
Mice, Inbred BALB C
Microbiology
Miscellaneous
Molecular Pathogenesis
Multigene Family
Mutagenesis
O Antigens - genetics
O Antigens - immunology
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
Tularemia - immunology
Virulence
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Summary:Francisella tularensis is a highly infectious bacterial pathogen, responsible for the zoonotic disease tularemia. We screened a bank of transposon insertion mutants of F. tularensis subsp. holarctica LVS for colony morphology alterations and selected a mutant with a transposon insertion in wbtA, the first gene of the predicted lipopolysaccharide O-antigen gene cluster. Inactivation of wbtA led to the complete loss of O antigen, conferred serum sensitivity, impaired intracellular replication, and severely attenuated virulence in the mouse model. Notably, this mutant afforded protection against a challenge against virulent LVS.
ISSN:0019-9567
1098-5522
DOI:10.1128/IAI.01429-06