Gene deletion strategy to examine the involvement of the two chondroitin lyases in Flavobacterium columnare virulence.

ABSTRACT: Flavobacterium columnare is an important bacterial pathogen of freshwater fish that causes high mortality of infected fish and heavy economic losses in aquaculture. The pathogenesis of this bacterium is poorly understood, in part due to the lack of efficient methods for genetic manipulation. In this study, a gene deletion strategy was developed and used to determine the relationship between the production of chondroitin lyases and virulence. The F. johnsoniae ompA promoter (PompA) was fused to sacB to construct a counterselectable marker for F. columnare. F. columnare carrying PompA-sacB failed to grow on media containing 10% sucrose. A suicide vector carrying PompA-sacB was constructed, and a gene deletion strategy was developed. Using this approach, the chondroitin lyase-encoding genes,

SUBMITTER: Li N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4592881 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature