The cytotoxic necrotizing factor of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis (CNFY) enhances inflammation and Yop delivery during infection by activation of Rho GTPases.

ABSTRACT: Some isolates of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis produce the cytotoxic necrotizing factor (CNFY), but the functional consequences of this toxin for host-pathogen interactions during the infection are unknown. In the present study we show that CNFY has a strong influence on virulence. We demonstrate that the CNFY toxin is thermo-regulated and highly expressed in all colonized lymphatic tissues and organs of orally infected mice. Most strikingly, we found that a cnfY knock-out variant of a naturally toxin-expressing Y. pseudotuberculosis isolate is strongly impaired in its ability to disseminate into the mesenteric lymph nodes, liver and spleen, and has fully lost its lethality. The CNFY toxin contributes significantly to the induction of acute inflammatory responses and to the formation of necr

SUBMITTER: Schweer J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3820761 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature