Yersinia pestis Resists Predation by Acanthamoeba castellanii and Exhibits Prolonged Intracellular Survival.

ABSTRACT: Plague is a flea-borne rodent-associated zoonotic disease caused by Yersinia pestis The disease is characterized by epizootics with high rodent mortalities, punctuated by interepizootic periods when the bacterium persists in an unknown reservoir. This study investigates the interaction between Y. pestis and the ubiquitous soil free-living amoeba (FLA) Acanthamoeba castellanii to assess if the bacterium can survive within soil amoebae and whether intracellular mechanisms are conserved between infection of mammalian macrophages and soil amoebae. The results demonstrate that during coculture with amoebae, representative Y. pestis strains of epidemic biovars Medievalis, Orientalis, and Antiqua are phagocytized and able to survive within amoebae for at least 5 days. Key Y. pestis determinants o

SUBMITTER: Benavides-Montano JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5478993 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature