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Infection and Immunity, November 1998, p. 5485-5493, Vol. 66, No. 11
Unité de Recherche en Biologie
Moléculaire (URBM),
Received 2 March 1998/Returned for modification 27 May
1998/Accepted 14 August 1998
Brucella organisms are facultative intracellular
bacteria that may infect many species of animals as well as humans. The
smooth lipopolysaccharide (S-LPS) has been reported to be an important virulence factor of these organisms, but the genetic basis of expression of the S-LPS O antigen has not yet been described. Likewise, the role of the O side chain of S-LPS in the survival of
Brucella has not been clearly defined. A
mini-Tn5 transposon mutant library of Brucella
melitensis 16M was screened by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
(ELISA) with monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) directed against the O side
chain of Brucella. One mutant, designated B3B2,
failed to express any O side chain as confirmed by ELISA, Western blot
analysis, and colony coloration with crystal violet. Nucleotide
sequence analysis demonstrated that the transposon disrupted an open
reading frame with significant homology to the putative perosamine
synthetase genes of Vibrio cholerae O1 and Escherichia coli O157:H7. The low G+C content of this DNA
region suggests that this gene may have originated from a species
other than a Brucella sp. The survival of B. melitensis mutant strain B3B2 in the mouse model and in bovine
macrophages was examined. The results suggested that S-LPS or, more
precisely, its O side chain is essential for survival in mice but not
in macrophages.
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Identification of the Perosamine Synthetase Gene of
Brucella melitensis 16M and Involvement of
Lipopolysaccharide O Side Chain in Brucella
Survival in Mice and in Macrophages
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Unité de
Recherche en Biologie Moléculaire (URBM), Laboratoire
d'Immunologie et de Microbiologie, Facultés Universitaire Notre
Dame de la Paix, 61 rue de Bruxelles, B-5000, Namur, Belgium. Phone:
32-81-72 44 03. Fax: 32-81-72 44 20. E-mail:
Fabrice.Godefroid{at}fundp.ac.be.
Infection and Immunity, November 1998, p. 5485-5493, Vol. 66, No. 11
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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