Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Background
A prerequisite for the virulence of the facultative intracellular bacterium Francisella tularensis is effective intramacrophage proliferation, which is preceded by phagosomal escape into the cytosol, and ultimately leads to host cell death. Many components essential for the intracellular life cycle are encoded by a gene cluster, the Francisella pathogenicity island (FPI), constituting a type VI secretion system.Results
We characterized the FPI mutant ΔpdpC of the live vaccine strain (LVS) of F. tularensis and found that it exhibited lack of intracellular replication, incomplete phagosomal escape, and marked attenuation in the mouse model, however, unlike a phagosomally contained FPI mutant, it triggered secretion of IL-1β, albeit lower than LVS, and markedly induced LDH release.Conclusions
The phenotype of the ΔpdpC mutant appears to be unique compared to previously described F. tularensis FPI mutants.
SUBMITTER: Lindgren M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3562505 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Lindgren Marie M Bröms Jeanette E JE Meyer Lena L Golovliov Igor I Sjöstedt Anders A
BMC microbiology 20130129
<h4>Background</h4>A prerequisite for the virulence of the facultative intracellular bacterium Francisella tularensis is effective intramacrophage proliferation, which is preceded by phagosomal escape into the cytosol, and ultimately leads to host cell death. Many components essential for the intracellular life cycle are encoded by a gene cluster, the Francisella pathogenicity island (FPI), constituting a type VI secretion system.<h4>Results</h4>We characterized the FPI mutant ΔpdpC of the live ...[more]