This Article Full Text (PDF) Other Versions of this Article: IAI.00219-07v1 76/2/578    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Forman, S. Articles by Straley, S. C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Forman, S. Articles by Straley, S. C.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infect. Immun. doi:10.1128/IAI.00219-07
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

yadBC of Yersinia pestis, a new virulence determinant for bubonic plague

Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536-0298

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: scstra01{at}uky.edu.

	Abstract

In all Yersinia pestis strains examined, the adhesin/invasin yadA is a pseudogene, yet Y. pestis remains invasive for epithelial cells. To identify potential surface proteins structurally and functionally similar to YadA, we searched the Y. pestis genome for open reading frames with homologies to yadA and found three: the bicistronic operon yadBC (YPO1387 and YPO1388 of Y. pestis CO92; y2786 and y2785 of Y. pestis KIM5), that encodes two putative surface proteins, and YPO0902, that lacks a signal sequence and likely is nonfunctional. In this study we characterized yadBC regulation and tested the importance of this operon for adherence, invasion and virulence of Y. pestis. We found that loss of yadBC caused a modest loss of invasiveness for epithelioid cells and a large decrease in virulence for bubonic but not pneumonic plague in mice.