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Infect Immun, March 1998, p. 1113-1120, Vol. 66, No. 3
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Identification of Virulence-Associated Characteristics in Clinical Isolates of Yersinia enterocolitica Lacking Classical Virulence Markers

Travis Grant, Vicki Bennett-Wood, and Roy M. Robins-Browne*

Microbiological Research Unit, Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Royal Children's Hospital, and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia

Received 8 October 1997/Returned for modification 23 November 1997/Accepted 19 December 1997

Yersinia enterocolitica is an important enteric pathogen which has well-defined virulence determinants that allow the bacteria to become established in their hosts and overcome host defenses. A number of strains obtained from patients with diarrhea, however, lack these genes. Accordingly, the mechanisms by which they cause disease are uncertain. Most of these isolates belong to biotype 1A. Strains of this biotype are also frequently isolated from a variety of nonclinical sources, such as food, soil, water, and healthy animals, and there is evidence that some of these strains are avirulent. In this study we investigated 111 strains of Y. enterocolitica biotype 1A, 79 from symptomatic humans and 32 from nonclinical sources, for virulence-associated characteristics. DNA hybridization studies showed that none of the strains carried sequences homologous with pYV, the ~70-kb Yersinia virulence plasmid. Some strains hybridized with DNA probes for one of the following chromosomal virulence-associated genes: ail (7.2%), myfA (11.7%), ystA (0.9%), and ystB (85%). In addition, 33 strains (29.7%) produced an enterotoxin that was reactive in infant mice. However, the frequencies of these virulence-associated properties in clinical and nonclinical isolates were similar. Clinical isolates invaded HEp-2 cells and Chinese hamster ovary cells to a significantly greater extent than nonclinical strains (P <=  0.002). In addition, clinical strains colonized the intestinal tracts of perorally inoculated mice for significantly longer periods than nonclinical isolates (P <=  0.01). Light and electron microscopic examination of tissue culture cells incubated with invasive yersiniae revealed that the bacteria invaded selected cells in large numbers but spared others, suggesting that biotype-1A strains of Y. enterocolitica may invade cells by a novel mechanism. These results indicate that some clinical isolates of Y. enterocolitica which lack classical virulence markers may be able to cause disease via virulence mechanisms which differ from those previously characterized in enteropathogenic Yersinia species.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia. Phone: (61-3) 9345-5741. Fax: (61-3) 9345-5764. E-mail: rbrowne{at}cryptic.rch.unimelb.edu.au.




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