Division of Infection and Immunity, International Institute for Zoonosis Control, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
Virulence. 2021 Dec;12(1):2285-2295. doi: 10.1080/21505594.2021.1965830.
is an obligate pathogen and a causative agent of anthrax. Its major virulence factors are plasmid-coded; however, recent studies have revealed chromosome-encoded virulence factors, indicating that the current understanding of its virulence mechanism is elusive and needs further investigation. In this study, we established a silkworm ( infection model of . We showed that silkworms were killed by Sterne and cured of the infection when administered with antibiotics. We quantitatively determined the lethal dose of the bacteria that kills 50% larvae and effective doses of antibiotics that cure 50% infected larvae. Furthermore, we demonstrated that mutants with disruption in virulence genes such as , and had attenuated silkworm-killing ability and reduced colonization in silkworm hemolymph. The silkworm infection model established in this study can be utilized in large-scale infection experiments to identify novel virulence determinants and develop novel therapeutic options against infections.
炭疽芽孢杆菌是一种专性病原体，也是炭疽病的病原体。其主要的毒力因子由质粒编码；然而，最近的研究揭示了染色体编码的毒力因子，表明目前对其毒力机制的理解仍不明确，需要进一步研究。在本研究中，我们建立了家蚕（感染模型。我们发现，当给予抗生素时，家蚕会被斯特氏炭疽杆菌杀死并治愈感染。我们定量确定了杀死 50%幼虫的细菌致死剂量和治愈 50%感染幼虫的抗生素有效剂量。此外，我们证明了缺失毒力基因如、和的突变体能减弱家蚕的致死能力，并减少在蚕血液中的定植。本研究中建立的家蚕感染模型可用于大规模感染实验，以鉴定新型毒力决定因子并开发针对炭疽芽孢杆菌感染的新型治疗方法。
