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Infection and Immunity, October 2004, p. 5613-5621, Vol. 72, No. 10
0019-9567/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.72.10.5613-5621.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Structural Organization of the pFra Virulence-Associated Plasmid of Rhamnose-Positive Yersinia pestis

Andrey Golubov,1 Heinrich Neubauer,2 Christina Nölting,1 Jürgen Heesemann,1 and Alexander Rakin1*

Max von Pettenkofer Institute of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology,1 Institute for Microbiology, German Federal Armed Forces,Munich, Germany2

Received 19 May 2004/ Returned for modification 23 June 2004/ Accepted 12 July 2004

The 137,036-bp plasmid pG8786 from rhamnose-positive Yersinia pestis G8786 isolated from the high mountainous Caucasian plague focus in Georgia is an enlarged form of the pFra virulence-associated plasmid containing genes for synthesis of the antigen fraction 1 and phospholipase D. In addition to the completely conserved genes of the pFra backbone, pG8786 contains two large regions consisting of 4,642 and 32,617 bp, designated regions 1 and 2, respectively. Region 1 retains a larger part of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi plasmid pHCM2 resembling the backbone of pFra replicons, while region 2 contains 25 open reading frames with high levels of similarity to the transfer genes of the F-like plasmids. Surprisingly, region 1 is also present in the pFra plasmid of avirulent Y. pestis strain 91001 isolated in Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. Despite the fact that some genes typically involved in conjugative transfer of the F-like replicons are missing in pG8786, we cannot exclude the possibility that pG8786 might be transmissive under certain conditions. pG8786 seems to be an ancient form of the pFra group of plasmids that were conserved due to the strict geographical isolation of rhamnose-positive Y. pestis strains in the high mountainous Caucasian plague locus.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Max von Pettenkofer-Institut für Hygiene und Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Pettenkofer Str. 9a, 80336 Munich, Germany. Phone: 4989 51605275. Fax: 4989 51605223. E-mail: rakin{at}m3401.mpk.med.uni-muenchen.de.

Editor: J. B. Bliska

Infection and Immunity, October 2004, p. 5613-5621, Vol. 72, No. 10
0019-9567/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.72.10.5613-5621.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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