Inactivation of the porB gene reduces the virulence of Neisseria meningitidis in transgenic mice.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Neisseria meningitidis is a human pathogen, carried asymptomatically in the nasopharynx, that can also cause invasive meningococcal disease. Understanding the carriage/invasiveness balance is crucial, and bacterial genetic factors may impact this balance. A previous genome-wide association study reported that the gene porB class 3 was significantly associated with carriage isolates. This study aimed to examine the impact of porB variants on virulence in carriage and invasive meningococcal isolates.

Results

For this, 24 isolates were used (13 invasive and 11 carriage) belonging to different genogroups (B, C, W, Y, and cnl) and selected based on the presence of the genetic variant porB class 2 or class 3. Transgenic BALB/c mice expressing human transferrin were infe

SUBMITTER: Klanger C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12357335 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature