IAI FigSearch
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Baltes, N.
Right arrow Articles by Rothkötter, H.-J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Baltes, N.
Right arrow Articles by Rothkötter, H.-J.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, January 2001, p. 472-478, Vol. 69, No. 1
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.1.472-478.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae Iron Transport and Urease Activity: Effects on Bacterial Virulence and Host Immune Response

Nina Baltes,1 Walaiporn Tonpitak,1 Gerald-F. Gerlach,1,* Isabel Hennig-Pauka,2 Astrid Hoffmann-Moujahid,3 Martin Ganter,2 and Hermann-J. Rothkötter3

Institut für Mikrobiologie und Tierseuchen1 and Klinik für Kleine Klauentiere,2 Tieraerztliche Hochschule Hannover, 30173 Hanover, and Abteilung für Funktionelle und Angewandte Anatomie, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, 30625 Hanover,3 Germany

Received 8 August 2000/Returned for modification 26 September 2000/Accepted 25 October 2000

Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, a porcine respiratory tract pathogen, has been shown to express transferrin-binding proteins and urease during infection. Both activities have been associated with virulence; however, their functional role for infection has not yet been elucidated. We used two isogenic A. pleuropneumoniae single mutants (Delta exbB and Delta ureC) and a newly constructed A. pleuropneumoniae double (Delta ureC Delta exbB) mutant in aerosol infection experiments. Neither the A. pleuropneumoniae Delta exbB mutant nor the double Delta ureC Delta exbB mutant was able to colonize sufficiently long to initiate a detectable humoral immune response. These results imply that the ability to utilize transferrin-bound iron is required for multiplication and persistence of A. pleuropneumoniae in the porcine respiratory tract. The A. pleuropneumoniae Delta ureC mutant and the parent strain both caused infections that were indistinguishable from one another in the acute phase of disease; however, 3 weeks postinfection the A. pleuropneumoniae Delta ureC mutant, in contrast to the parent strain, could not be isolated from healthy lung tissue. In addition, the local immune response---as assessed by fluorescence-activated cell sorter and enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot analyses---revealed a significantly higher number of A. pleuropneumoniae-specific B cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of pigs infected with the A. pleuropneumoniae Delta ureC mutant than in the BALF of those infected with the parent strain. These results imply that A. pleuropneumoniae urease activity may cause sufficient impairment of the local immune response to slightly improve the persistence of the urease-positive A. pleuropneumoniae parent strain.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Tieraerztliche Hochschule Hannover, Institut fuer Mikrobiologie und Tierseuchen, Bischofsholer Damm 15, 30173 Hanover, Germany. Phone: 49-511-856-7598. Fax: 49-511-856-7697. E-mail: gfgerlach{at}gmx.de.

Infection and Immunity, January 2001, p. 472-478, Vol. 69, No. 1
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.1.472-478.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. J. Virol. Eukaryot. Cell
Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. Clin. Vaccine Immunol. All ASM Journals

Copyright © 2001 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.