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Infection and Immunity, July 2000, p. 3916-3922, Vol. 68, No. 7
Department of Molecular Virology and
Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
770301; Bovine Business Unit,
Department of Biological Research and Development,
Boehringer-Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc., St. Joseph, Missouri
645062; and Department of Anatomy,
Pharmacology and Pathology, Oklahoma State University, College of
Veterinary Medicine, Stillwater, Oklahoma 740783
Received 9 February 2000/Returned for modification 22 March
2000/Accepted 30 March 2000
The leukotoxin of Pasteurella (Mannheimia)
haemolytica is believed to play a significant role in
pathogenesis, causing cell lysis and apoptosis that lead to the lung
pathology characteristic of bovine shipping fever. Using a system for
Cre-lox recombination, a nonpolar mutation within the
lktC transacylase gene of the leukotoxin operon was
created. The lktC locus was insertionally inactivated using
a loxP-aph3-loxP cassette, and then the aph3
marker was excised from the chromosome by Cre recombinase expressed
from a P. haemolytica plasmid. The resulting
lktC strain (SH2099) secretes inactive leukotoxin and
carries no known antibiotic resistance genes. Strain SH2099 was tested
for virulence in a calf challenge model. We inoculated 3 × 108 or 3 × 109 CFU of wild-type or mutant
bacteria into the lungs of healthy, colostrum-deprived calves via
transthoracic injection. Animals were observed for clinical signs and
for nasal colonization for 4 days, after which they were euthanized and
necropsied. The lower inoculum (3 × 108 CFU) caused
significantly fewer deaths and allowed lung pathology to be scored and
compared, while the 3 × 109 CFU dose of either the
wild-type or mutant was lethal to
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Inactivation of Pasteurella
(Mannheimia) haemolytica Leukotoxin Causes
Partial Attenuation of Virulence in a Calf Challenge
Model


50% of the calves. The estimated
50% lethal dose of SH2099 was four times higher than that of the
wild-type strain. Lung lesion scores were reduced twofold in animals
inoculated with the mutant, while clinical scores were nearly
equivalent for both strains. The wild-type and mutant strains were
equally capable of colonizing the upper respiratory tracts of the
calves. In this study, the P. haemolytica lktC mutant was
shown to be less virulent than the parent strain.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: One Baylor
Plaza, BCM-280, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030. Phone:
(713) 798-6311. Fax: (713) 798-7475. E-mail:
sarahh{at}bcm.tmc.edu.
Present address: Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology,
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637.
Present address: USDA/APHIS, CVB-LPD, Ames, IA 50010.
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