Transcription Elongation Factor GreA Plays a Key Role in Cellular Invasion and Virulence of Francisella tularensis subsp. novicida.

ABSTRACT: Francisella tularensis is a facultative intracellular Gram-negative bacterium that causes the zoonotic disease tularemia. We identified the transcription elongation factor GreA as a virulence factor in our previous study, but its role was not defined. Here, we investigate the effects of the inactivation of the greA gene, generating a greA mutant of F. tularensis subsp. novicida. Inactivation of greA impaired the bacterial invasion into and growth within host cells, and subsequently virulence in mouse infection model. A transcriptomic analysis (RNA-Seq) showed that the loss of GreA caused the differential expression of 196 bacterial genes, 77 of which were identified as virulence factors in previous studies. To confirm that GreA regulates the expression of virulence factors involved in cell

SUBMITTER: Cui G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5932009 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature