Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyphi C carries an inactive shufflon.

ABSTRACT: Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi uses type IVB pili to facilitate bacterial self-association, but only when the PilV proteins (potential minor pilus proteins) are not synthesized. This pilus-mediated event may be important in typhoid fever pathogenesis. We initially show that S. enterica serovar Paratyphi C strains harbor a pil operon very similar to that of serovar Typhi. An important difference, however, is located in the shufflon which concludes the pil operon. In serovar Typhi, the Rci recombinase acts upon two 19-bp inverted repeats to invert the terminal region of the pilV gene, thereby disrupting PilV synthesis and permitting bacterial self-association. In serovar Paratyphi C, however, the shufflon is essentially inactive because each of the Rci 19-bp substrates has acquired a sing

SUBMITTER: Tam CK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC343949 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature