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Infection and Immunity, July 2008, p. 3086-3092, Vol. 76, No. 7
0019-9567/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00363-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Francisella tularensis subsp. tularensis Schu S4 Disulfide Bond Formation Protein B, but Not an RND-Type Efflux Pump, Is Required for Virulence

Aiping Qin,¹ David W. Scott,¹ and Barbara J. Mann^1,2*

Department of Medicine,¹ Department of Microbiology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908²

Received 20 March 2008/ Returned for modification 22 April 2008/ Accepted 25 April 2008

Top ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS RESULTS DISCUSSION REFERENCES

 
Francisella tularensis subsp. tularensis is a highly virulent bacterium that is a CDC select agent. Despite advancements in the understanding of its biology, details pertaining to virulence are poorly understood. In previous work, we identified a transposon insertion mutant in the FTT0107c locus that was defective in intracellular survival in HepG2 and J77A.1 cells. Here, we report that this mutant was also highly attenuated in vivo. The FTT0107c locus is predicted to encode an ortholog of the disulfide bond formation B protein (DsbB). This designation was confirmed by complementation of an Escherichia coli dsbB mutant. This dsbB mutant of Schu S4 was highly attenuated in mice, but unlike what has been reported for Francisella novicida, intranasal immunization with a sublethal dose did not induce protection against wild-type challenge. dsbB was found to be transcribed in an operon with acrA and acrB, which encode an RND-type efflux pump. However, this pump did not make a significant contribution to virulence because strains with nonpolar deletions in acrA and acrB behaved like wild-type strain Schu S4 with respect to intracellular growth and in vivo virulence. This result is in contrast to a report that an acrB mutant of a live vaccine strain of F. tularensis has decreased virulence in mice. Overall, these results demonstrate key differences between the virulence requirements of Schu S4 and less virulent subspecies of Francisella. We have shown that DsbB is a key participant in intracellular growth and virulence, and our results suggest that there are critical virulence factors that contain disulfide bonds.

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Francisella tularensis is a facultative intracellular bacterium that invades a variety of cell types including macrophages, endothelial cells, and hepatocytes (2, 12, 16). Many aspects of its biology and pathogenicity were recently reviewed (1). In macrophages, F. tularensis has been reported to reside in a phagosome for 3 to 6 h after infection before escaping into the cytoplasm (10, 20, 25, 35, 36). It is also capable of reentering a vacuole via the autophagy pathway (9). A few factors that regulate or facilitate phagosome escape and intracellular survival of F. tularensis have been identified (21, 28, 32, 33, 38). Thus far, many of these factors are encoded on a 30-kb Francisella pathogenicity island (FPI) that has at least 17 open reading frames (32). Mutations in the genes of one FPI operon, iglABCD (igl for intracellular growth loci), result in mutants that have reduced abilities to grow in macrophages (21, 32). An iglC mutant is unable to escape from the phagosome (24, 37). IglA and IglB are interacting cytoplasmic proteins that have similarity to a recently described type VI secretion system (13). Virulence factors that are encoded on genes outside the FPI include a type IV pilus and an iron acquisition system (18, 26). Two transcriptional regulators, MglA and SspA, which are not encoded by the FPI, are also required for macrophage intracellular growth and virulence in mice (4, 8). MglA and SspA interact with one another, associate with RNA polymerase, and regulate the same set of genes. Transcription profiling of wild-type F. novicida and its corresponding mglA mutant identified 102 MglA-regulated genes (6).

Other genes that are potentially involved in virulence have been identified by screening transposon-mutagenized libraries of LVS, F. novicida, and Schu S4 for strains defective in intracellular growth or in vivo survival (1, 21, 29, 39, 40, 42). Mutants with transposon insertions in dsbB have been identified in several of these screens (29, 40, 42). In Escherichia coli, it was demonstrated that the disulfide bond formation B protein (DsbB) is an inner membrane protein that partners with the periplasmic DsbA protein to catalyze the formation of disulfide bonds in gram-negative bacterial proteins (11). Disulfide bonds are critical for the function and/or assembly of a variety of virulence factors in other pathogenic bacteria, and dsb mutants in many pathogens often display significant levels of attenuation (27, 44).

We previously identified a Schu S4 transposon insertion mutant in a putative dsbB ortholog that was defective in intracellular survival (33). Here, we show that a transposon insertion mutant in dsbB and a nonpolar deletion mutant were both highly attenuated in mice. Previous intranasal inoculation with a sublethal dose of the Schu S4 dsbB mutant did not induce protection against wild-type challenge. The dsbB gene (locus FTT0107c) was transcribed in an operon with genes that encode an RND-type efflux pump. However, the nonpolar deletion of the genes that encode this RND-type efflux pump did not affect intracellular growth and in vivo virulence. While a dsbB mutant may not be a suitable candidate for a protective vaccine, this mutant could be useful for determining the essential requirements of an efficacious vaccine and also for defining critical virulence factors.

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Bacterial strains, primers, plasmids, and culture. All bacterial strains and plasmids used in these experiments are listed in Table 1. Primers are listed in Table 2. E. coli strains were grown in Luria-Bertani (LB) broth or on LB plates with kanamycin (50 µg/ml) or ampicillin (100 µg/ml) when required. F. tularensis subsp. tularensis Schu S4 was obtained from the CDC, Ft. Collins, CO. Schu S4 was subcultured on Mueller-Hinton agar (MHA), in trypticase soy broth supplemented with cysteine (TSB/C), or in Chamberlain's defined medium (CDM) as described elsewhere previously (33). When appropriate, 25 µg/ml of rifampin or 15 µg/ml of kanamycin was added. Studies involving Schu S4 were carried out in an approved biosafety level 3 laboratory.

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TABLE 1. Bacterial strains and plasmids used in this study

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TABLE 2. Primers used in this studya

Invasion and intracellular replication assay. Human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 (ATCC HB-8065) or murine macrophage J774A.1 (ATCC TIB-67) cells were propagated in high- or low-glucose Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium, respectively, supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. Infections were carried out as described previously (33) except that J774A.1 cells were lysed in water for 10 min, and serial dilutions were then plated onto plates of MHA, MHA with 25 µg/ml rifampin, or MHA with 15 µg/ml kanamycin. CFU were counted 48 h later.

DNA manipulation and transformation. DNA was prepared and purified using commercial kits (Qiagen, Valencia, CA). Oligonucleotides were synthesized by Integrated DNA Technologies Inc. Restriction endonucleases and ligase were from New England Biolabs. HotStart Taq (Qiagen) was used for routine PCR. For complementation and suicide vector construction, the FastStart high-fidelity PCR system (Roche, Indianapolis, IN) was used. DNA sequencing was performed at the University of Virginia Biomolecular Research Facility. DNA and protein sequences were compared and aligned with CLUSTAL W (41). DNA transformation of Schu S4 was performed as described previously, with modifications (33). Briefly, a culture grown overnight was pelleted by centrifugation and then washed three times with ice-cold 0.2 M sucrose and one time with 10% glycerol. The final pellet was resuspended in a 1/50 volume of the original culture in 10% glycerol. A 50-µl aliquot of competent cells was mixed with 500 to 1,000 ng DNA on ice for 10 min and then transferred into a 0.1-cm-gap electroporation cuvette. The electroporation conditions were 2 to 2.5 kV, 25 mF, and 200 . Immediately after electroporation, the cells were plated onto a warmed MHA blood plate and incubated at 37°C in 5% CO₂ for 6 h. The bacterial lawn was harvested in 2 ml TSB/c medium, and 100-µl aliquots were plated onto MHA with kanamycin. The plate was incubated at 37°C in 5% CO₂ for 3 to 6 days.

Construction of nonpolar deletion mutants and complementation plasmids. DNA fragments corresponding to 800 to 1,800 bp upstream, including the start codon, and downstream, including the stop codon of a target gene, were amplified by PCR and cloned into a sacB suicide vector, pGir463, a kind gift of Girija Ramakrishnan, University of Virginia. The suicide plasmid constructs were sequenced to verify the constructions before transformation. The plasmids were introduced into competent Schu S4 cells by electroporation as described above. Colonies were grown on MHA plates with kanamycin and then streaked onto an MHA plate supplemented with 5% sucrose. Chromosomal DNAs were isolated from sucrose-resistant, kanamycin-sensitive colonies. Specific primers that corresponded to DNA flanking each gene (BM045/BM052 for dsbB, BM074/BM077 for acrB, and BM129/BM130 for acrA) were used in the PCR to confirm each deletion. The PCR products were also sequenced. Plasmids for complementation were constructed by inserting PCR products of full-length target genes (pAQ012, primer pair BM026/BM078), or including 50 bp upstream, (pAQ061, primer pair BM025/BM028), into vector pFNLTP6-groE-gfp (30). The sequence of the cloned fragment was verified.

RNA isolation and RT-PCR. Bacterial RNA was isolated from 0.5 ml of a culture grown overnight using the RNeasy Mini kit (Qiagen). To remove contaminating genomic DNA, total RNA was treated with RNase-Free DNase (Qiagen). cDNA synthesis was performed with 1 mg of RNA, random hexamers, and Superscript II enzyme (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer's instructions. As a negative control for reverse transcription (RT)-PCR, one RT reaction was processed without the addition of reverse transcriptase. Primers were designed to anneal to sequences upstream (BM051/BM052) and downstream (BM047/BM048) of the dsbB gene.

Drug sensitivity assays. Drug sensitivity assays were performed as described previously (19). Cultures grown overnight were adjusted to an optical density at 595 nm of 0.01. One hundred microliters of culture was spread onto MHA plates with the appropriate antibiotic when required. Disks for each tested drug were placed onto the plates. The zone of inhibition including the diameter of the disk was measured at 48 h. These experiments were repeated at least three times. Statistical significance was determined using the Student t test.

DTT and cadmium sensitivity assays. E. coli strains expressing Schu S4 dsbB or containing the control plasmid were grown to an optical density at 595 nm of 0.6, serially diluted with culture medium in a 96-well plate, and then transferred with a 48-pin replicator onto plates with LB plus 50 µg/ml kanamycin, which were supplemented with various concentrations of cadmium or dithiothreitol (DTT). Results were recorded 48 h after incubation at 37°C.

Mouse studies. All mouse studies were approved by the University of Virginia's Animal Care and Use Committee. For intranasal inoculations, 6- to 8-week-old C57BL/6 mice (Jackson Laboratory) were anesthetized with ketamine-HCl-xylazine. Various amounts of exponential-phase bacteria or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) were inoculated into the nares. The actual inoculation doses were confirmed by viable plate counting. The mice were monitored daily for 3 weeks. The 50% lethal doses (LD₅₀s) were calculated according to a method described previously by Reed and Muench (34). Briefly, groups of four mice were intranasally infected with 10⁵, 10⁶, 10⁷, or 10⁸ CFU. Bacterial burdens in the lungs, liver, and spleen were determined as described previously (40). Briefly, organs were aseptically removed and homogenized with a grinder 3 days postinoculation. The CFU per gram of organs were determined by plating serial dilutions. Mice intranasally immunized with sub-LD₅₀ amounts of mutants were intranasally challenged with various doses of wild-type Schu S4 20 to 40 days later. Mice showing signs of irreversible mortality were humanely euthanized. Four mice were used in each immunization group. To have a 95% chance of detecting infection in a situation where it is assumed that only 75% of the mice are infected, three mice would be required for each group (14). The infection/mortality rate in the PBS-immunized control groups was typically 100%.

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DsbB is not involved in uptake but is required for intracellular replication in HepG2 cells. A dsbB mutant strain, BJM1005, was identified during a screen of a Schu S4 transposon insertion library for mutants defective in intracellular survival in the hepatocarcinoma cell line HepG2 and in J774A.1 cells (33). The dsbB locus FTT0107c is predicted to encode a 163-amino-acid protein with four transmembrane domains (www.biohealthbase.org); it has sequences that match a DsbB PFAM and is similar to other DsbB proteins by BLAST search. To characterize the intracellular survival defect further, the survival of BJM1005 in HepG2 cells was monitored over time. The uptake of BJM1005 by HepG2 cells was similar to that of the wild type; however, it was apparent that this mutant failed to replicate intracellularly (Fig. 1). At 24 h postinfection, levels of Schu S4 bacteria had increased by 4 logs, while levels of BJM1005 had dropped by 1 log; By 72 h, the level of BJM1005 had decreased by 3 logs. A complemented strain grew similarly to wild-type cells. BJM1005 had growth kinetics that were similar to those of Schu S4 in TSB/c or CDM and did not show any increased sensitivity to pH or hydrogen peroxide, so the decrease in intracellular growth was not due to a general lack of fitness (data not shown).

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FIG. 1. Schu S4 mutant EZ::TN<rpsl-rparr-2>dsbB (BJM1005) was defective in intracellular growth in HepG2 cells. Bacterial cells were incubated with HepG2 cells at a multiplicity of infection of 100 to 1. After 1 h, fresh medium that contained 50 µg/ml of gentamicin was added to the wells. At the indicated time points, the HepG2 cells were lysed, and the dilutions of the lysate were plated onto MHA plates. BJM1005C is the complemented strain carrying dsbB+ on pAQ012 (30).

Schu S4 dsbB complements an E. coli dsbB mutant. The Schu S4 protein encoded by FTT0107c shares about 55% similarity to other DsbB proteins. To confirm that this locus can encode a protein with DsbB activity, this gene was introduced into an E. coli dsbB mutant on a Francisella shuttle vector. Schu S4 dsbB was able to restore DsbB-dependent activities in E. coli, including sensitivity to cadmium chloride (Fig. 2), motility, and DTT resistance (data not shown).

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FIG. 2. dsbB from F. tularensis complemented an E. coli dsbB mutant's sensitivity to cadmium chloride. Cultures grown overnight were serially diluted and then spotted onto LB plates containing the indicated concentrations of cadmium chloride. Lanes: 1, BMAQ076 (E. coli dsbB mutant harboring pAQ061); 2, BMAQ077 (E. coli dsbB mutant harboring pTFNLP-6-groE-gfp); 3, BMAQ078 (wild-type E. coli harboring pAQ061); 4, BMAQ079 (wild-type E. coli harboring pFNLP-6-groE-gfp).

DsbB is required for in vivo virulence. By the intranasal route, a dose of 10 CFU or less of Schu S4 is lethal to mice. To test the virulence of BJM1005, C57BL/6 mice were intranasally inoculated with 2,000 CFU (Fig. 3). All of the mice challenged with BJM1005 survived for the duration of the experiment (more than 20 days). Episomal complementation with wild-type dsbB (BJM1005C) restored virulence, although mice infected with this strain died 9 days postinfection, compared to 5 to 6 days with wild-type challenge. The LD₅₀ of BJM1005 was calculated, using the method described previously Reed and Muench, to be 5.7 x10⁶ organisms (34; data not shown). At 3 days postinoculation, BJM1005 was barely detectable in the lungs, liver, and spleen (Fig. 4). The complemented strain BJM1005C was detected in all three organs but at significantly reduced levels in the liver and spleen. This may account for the delay in time to death with BJM1005C.

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FIG. 3. BJM1005 (dsbB) was attenuated in vivo. C57BL/6 mice (four mice per group) were intranasally infected with 2,000 CFU of the indicated bacteria. Using a Fisher's exact test, the P value for the BJM1005 mouse group was <0.03. This is a representative experiment that was repeated two other times.

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FIG. 4. In vivo distribution and bacterial burden in organs of infected mice. C57BL/6 mice were intranasally infected with 8,000 CFU of BJM1005 (dsbB), its complementary strain BJM1005C, or wild-type strain Schu S4. At day 3 postinfection, mice were euthanized. CFU of indicated organs were determined by serial dilution and plating onto MHA (Schu S4), MHA plus rifampin (BJM1005), or MHA plus kanamycin (BJM1005C). Three mice were used for each strain.

Intranasal immunization with BJM1005 does not protect C57BL/6 mice from intranasal wild-type challenge. Because BJM1005 exhibited a high level of attenuation, we wanted to determine if previous infection with BJM1005 was able to provide protection against intranasal challenge with wild-type bacteria. Although there was a delay in time to death from 4 to 6 days to 9 to 10 days, immunized mice intranasally challenged with as few as 13 CFU still succumbed to infection (Fig. 5).

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FIG. 5. Intranasal vaccination with BJM1005 did not protect against wild-type challenge. C57BL/6 mice (three to four mice per each group) were intranasally inoculated with 6.8 x 103 BJM1005 cells and challenged with 13 CFU to 13,000 CFU of Schu S4 30 days later. One group of four mice was mock immunized with PBS. Similar challenge experiments were repeated with BJM1005 and BJM1039; no protection was observed (data not shown).

The dsbB gene is in an operon. There are six loci surrounding dsbB in Schu S4 that are transcribed in the same direction. A map of this region is shown in Fig. 6. The small sizes of the intergenic regions between FTT0108c (cca), FTT0107c (dsbB), FTT0106c, and FTT0105c (41, 14, and 1 bp, respectively) suggested that these genes were transcribed in a single operon. FTT0104c is 132 bp away from FTT0105c, and FTT0103c is 245 bp away from FTT0104c, so they are perhaps less likely to be part of an operon with the upstream genes. FTT0108c is annotated as a tRNA nucleotidyltransferase. The predicted proteins encoded by FTT0106c and FTT0105c, acrA and acrB, respectively, have similarity to the RND efflux transporter family. FTT0104c is predicted to encode a protein with similarity to major facilitator superfamily transporter proteins. FTT0103c is predicted to encode a novel protein.

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FIG. 6. dsbB is in an operon. RT-PCR was performed on cDNA generated from RNA isolated from Schu S4 or BJM1005 grown in TSB/c using primer pairs that were designed to amplify the intergenic regions. A product was detected between dsbB and FTT0106c in Schu S4 but not in the transposon-generated dsbB mutant strain BJM1005. (A) Diagram of the genomic organization of dsbB. The direction of the large arrows that depict each gene indicates the direction of transcription. The inverted triangle indicates the approximate site of the transposon insertion in dsbB. The locations and orientations of the primers used in RT-PCR are shown by small arrows. (B) RT-PCR products were separated on agarose gels. The primers used in each reaction are shown on the left, and the source of the RNA in each reaction is noted under each gel. Lane designations: M1 and M2, 1-kb-plus ladder and 1-kb ladder, respectively, (Invitrogen); RT, reverse transcriptase added; No RT, no reverse transcriptase; DNA, genomic DNA used as a template; W, water (no template added).

If dsbB is cotranscribed with the RND efflux pump genes, the transposon insertion in dsbB could have polar effects on these downstream genes. This was supported by the observation that BJM1005 did demonstrate increased sensitivity to some antibiotics and detergents (data not shown). The loss of the pump could also be contributing to the intracellular growth defect. To determine if dsbB was cotranscribed with the downstream genes, RT-PCR experiments were performed (Fig. 6). The presence of a PCR product, using primer pair 47/48, which spans the intergene region between dsbB and FTT0106c in Schu S4 but not BJM1005, indicated that these two genes are cotranscribed and that the transposon insertion in BJM1005 could have polar effects on downstream genes.

DsbB, but not the RND efflux pump, is critical for intracellular growth and in vivo virulence. To examine the possible contributions of the efflux pump to virulence, nonpolar deletions were constructed in dsbB, acrA, and acrB as described in Materials and Methods. The nonpolar deletions were confirmed by PCR and DNA sequencing (data not shown). None of these deletion mutants were defective for growth in CDM (data not shown). J774A.1 cells were infected with each deletion mutant (Fig. 7). Only the dsbB deletion mutant (BJM1039) was defective in intracellular replication. The dsbB⁺-complemented strain (BJM1041) and acrA (BJM1040) and acrB (BJM1032) mutant strains replicated like wild-type cells. dsbB mutant strain BJM1039, like the transposon insertion mutant, was also attenuated in mice. The LD₅₀ was determined to be 2.1 x 10⁷ organisms. In contrast, all mice (a total of eight per mutant) intranasally infected with as few as 34 CFU of the acrB mutant (BJM1032) or 25 CFU of BJM1040 (acrA) died on day 5 or 6, as did Schu S4-challenged mice. The bacterial burdens of both acr mutants in the lungs, liver, and spleen were also similar to those of mice infected with wild-type Schu S4 (data not shown).

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FIG. 7. Intracellular growth of dsbB, acrA, and acrB strains of Schu S4 in J774A.1. BJM1039 (dsbB), BJM1041 (trans-complemented dsbB), BJM1040 (acrA), BJM1032 (acrB), and Schu S4 were incubated with J774A.1 cells (multiplicity of infection of 50:1) for 1 h, and 50 µg/ml gentamicin was then added to the wells. At the indicated time points, cells were lysed, and the dilutions of the lysate were plated onto MHA plates. This is a representative experiment of at least three repetitions.

Deletion of dsbB does not affect drug sensitivities. The linkage of dsbB to an efflux pump is unusual. Genes linked in operons are often part of the same biochemical pathway or share some type of dependency. A multidrug efflux pump of Burkholderia cepacia was previously reported to be dependent on dsbA (7). acrB (FTT0105c) has three cysteine residues, so it is possible that the DsbB/DsbA pathway is required for its function and/or assembly. The dsbB transposon mutant exhibited increased sensitivity to the antibiotics listed in Table 3 (data not shown), but this could have been due to polar effects on the downstream genes. The sensitivity of the nonpolar deletion mutants to a variety of antibiotics, detergents, and dyes was tested (Table 3). The deletion of acrB or acrA resulted in increased sensitivity to many of the agents tested, whereas the deletion of dsbB did not show any increased sensitivity to any of the agents tested.

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TABLE 3. Sensitivities of mutants to drugs, detergents, and dyesa

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We have shown that dsbB Schu S4 mutants are highly attenuated for both intracellular growth and in vivo virulence. However, mice immunized with a sublethal intranasal dose were not protected against intranasal challenge with the wild-type strain. The correlates of protection against aerosol and intranasal challenge, the most likely route of a bioterrorist event, are not well defined, but Th1-like responses are required, and it was previously reported that immune antiserum can provide prophylactic protection against pulmonary infections with lower-virulence subspecies (23, 31). Our results contrast those reported previously by Tempel et al., who found that intraperitoneal inoculation with a dsbB transposon mutant of F. novicida was able to protect mice from a lethal challenge with wild-type F. novicida (40). There are a number of obvious differences between the two experiments that could account for differences in levels of protection. The most important difference is likely the different subspecies of Francisella that were used, but there were also differences in the species of mice (C57BL/6 versus BALB/c), dosing, and route of immunization.

The product of the Schu S4 dsbB gene was able to complement an E. coli dsbB mutant, confirming that the Schu S4 DsbB protein can function as this type of protein. The disulfide bond formation pathway has been shown to be critical for the formation and function of a number of virulence factors such as type III secretion, flagella, and some toxins (27, 43, 44). The basis of the attenuation of the dsbB mutant could be due to the loss of key virulence factors. F. tularensis does not appear to possess any of these above-mentioned factors, but there are genes with similarity to those that encode a type IV pilus, which is also a Dsb-dependent structure in other pathogens (17, 18, 22). The deletion of one of the potential pilin-encoding subunits in a type B strain of Francisella resulted in strains that were attenuated in vivo but only by the subcutaneous route, and these mutants were not defective in intracellular replication (17). Other potential substrates of the Dsb pathway may be the proposed type VI secretion system formed by the IglA (three cysteines) and IglB (six cysteines) proteins, which are encoded by the FPI (13).

The dsbB gene in Schu S4 was shown to be transcribed in an operon that includes genes that encode an RND-type multidrug efflux pump. This is likely to be true in the other Francisella subspecies because the genomic arrangement of dsbB is the same in other sequenced strains of Francisella. Transposon insertion mutants can have polar effects on downstream genes, so it was possible that some of the observed defects in intracellular survival and in vivo attenuation could have been due to the loss of the efflux pump. However, we found that in Schu S4 cells, this RND-type efflux pump did not have any detectable effects on virulence; mutations in acrA and acrB did not produce strains with defects in intracellular growth, and they did not exhibit any attenuation when given by the intranasal route. RND transporters are multidrug efflux pumps used by gram-negative bacteria to export antibacterial drugs and other toxic molecules out of the cell without direct contact with the periplasmic space. Multidrug efflux systems are made up of three components: an inner membrane energy-providing protein (AcrB), a periplasmic membrane fusion protein (AcrA), and the outer membrane pore (TolC) (15). Schu S4 has two TolC orthologs encoded elsewhere in the genome, TolC (FTT1724) and FtlC (FTT1095). The deletion of tolC, but not ftlC, in LVS results in attenuated virulence in a mouse model of tularemia by the intradermal route (19). It is possible that this RND efflux pump uses the TolC-like protein encoded by ftlC; however, we did not test the acrA and acrB mutants for virulence by the intradermal route. There is some precedence for the involvement of RND efflux pumps in virulence and invasion. A mutant in the RND family efflux pump of Burkholderia pseudomallei is defective in biofilm formation, the optimal production of siderophore and phospholipase C, and invasion of human lung epithelial cells and THP-1 macrophage cells (7). Our results are in contrast to those reported previously by Bina et al., who reported that the mutation of the corresponding acrB gene in LVS resulted in attenuation in mice infected by the intranasal route (5). There were also some differences in drug sensitivities; our mutants did not show increased sensitivity to β-lactam antibiotics. The differences in our results may be a reflection of differences in virulence mechanisms. The virulence mechanisms of F. tularensis, particularly of the most virulent F. tularensis subsp. tularensis, are not well defined. The genome sequence has revealed only a few obvious potential virulence factors. The factors that are responsible for the high level of virulence of Schu S4 and other type A strains may supersede or render the contributions of other more subtle virulence factors unnecessary. Our results suggest that some of these virulence factors contain disulfide bonds. Examining virulence factors directly in type A strains will be key for defining the virulence factors that impart the high level of virulence of type A strains of Francisella tularensis.

 
This work was supported by NIH NIAID Middle Atlantic Regional Center of Excellence grant U54 AI057168 and grant R21 AI056278 and the Carillion Biomedical Institute.

We thank Girija Ramakrishnan, University of Virginia, for generously providing pGIR463.

 
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: University of Virginia Health System, P.O. Box 801364, Charlottesville, VA 22908. Phone: (434) 924-9666. Fax: (434) 924-0075. E-mail: bjm2r{at}virginia.edu

Published ahead of print on 5 May 2008.

Editor: A. J. Bäumler

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Infection and Immunity, July 2008, p. 3086-3092, Vol. 76, No. 7
0019-9567/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00363-08
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