Iwobi A, Heesemann J, Garcia E, Igwe E, Noelting C, Rakin A
Max von Pettenkofer-Institut für Hygiene und Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Pettenkoferstrasse 9a, 80336 Munich, Germany.
Infect Immun. 2003 Apr;71(4):1872-9. doi: 10.1128/IAI.71.4.1872-1879.2003.
Yersinia enterocolitica strains comprise an important group of bacterial enteropathogens that cause a broad range of gastrointestinal syndromes. Three groups are distinguishable within this bacterial species, namely, the nonpathogenic group (biotype 1A strains), the low-pathogenicity, non-mouse-lethal group (biotypes 2 to 5), and the high-pathogenicity, mouse-lethal group (biotype 1B). To date, the presence of the high-pathogenicity island (HPI), a chromosomal locus that encodes the yersiniabactin system (involved in iron uptake), defines essentially the difference between low-pathogenicity and high-pathogenicity Y. enterocolitica strains, with the low-pathogenicity strains lacking the HPI. Using the powerful tool of representational difference analysis between the nonpathogenic 1A strain, NF-O, and its high-pathogenicity 1B counterpart, WA-314, we have identified a novel type II secretion gene cluster (yts1C-S) occurring exclusively in the high-pathogenicity group. The encoded secreton, designated Yts1 (for Yersinia type II secretion 1) was shown to be important for virulence in mice. A close examination of the almost completed genome sequence of another high-pathogenicity representative, Y. enterocolitica 8081, revealed a second putative type II secretion cluster uniformly distributed among all Y. enterocolitica isolates. This putative species-specific cluster (designated yts2) differed significantly from yts1, while resembling more closely the putative type II cluster present on the genome of Y. pestis. The Yts1 secreton thus appears to have been additionally acquired by the high-pathogenicity assemblage for a virulence-associated function.
小肠结肠炎耶尔森氏菌菌株是一类重要的细菌性肠道病原体,可引发多种胃肠道综合征。在该细菌物种中可区分出三组,即非致病组(生物型1A菌株)、低致病性、非小鼠致死组(生物型2至5)和高致病性、小鼠致死组(生物型1B)。迄今为止,高致病性岛(HPI)的存在,即一个编码耶尔森菌素系统(参与铁摄取)的染色体位点,基本上定义了低致病性和高致病性小肠结肠炎耶尔森氏菌菌株之间的差异,低致病性菌株缺乏HPI。利用非致病1A菌株NF-O与其高致病性1B对应菌株WA-314之间强大的代表性差异分析工具,我们鉴定出了一个仅在高致病性组中出现的新型II型分泌基因簇(yts1C-S)。所编码的分泌系统,命名为Yts1(用于耶尔森氏菌II型分泌1),被证明对小鼠的毒力很重要。对另一个高致病性代表菌株小肠结肠炎耶尔森氏菌8081几乎完整的基因组序列进行仔细检查后发现,在所有小肠结肠炎耶尔森氏菌分离株中均匀分布着第二个推定的II型分泌簇。这个推定的物种特异性簇(命名为yts2)与yts1有显著差异,同时更类似于鼠疫耶尔森氏菌基因组上存在的推定II型簇。因此,Yts1分泌系统似乎是高致病性群体额外获得的,用于与毒力相关的功能。