Open AccessReduced amounts of LPS affect both stress tolerance and virulence of Salmonella enterica serovar Dublin
Author(s) -
Thomsen Line E,
Chadfield Mark S,
Bispham Jennifer,
Wallis Timothy S,
Olsen John E,
Ingmer Hanne
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1016/s0378-1097(03)00762-6
Subject(s) - virulence , salmonella enterica , mutant , biology , transposon mutagenesis , mutagenesis , bacterial outer membrane , microbiology and biotechnology , salmonella , serotype , antigen , transposable element , gene , mutation , pathogenicity island , bacteria , genetics , escherichia coli
Signature‐tagged mutagenesis (STM) is a widely used technique for identification of virulence genes in bacterial pathogens. While this approach often generates a large number of mutants with a potential reduction in virulence a major task is subsequently to determine the mechanism by which the mutations influence virulence. Presently, we have characterised a Salmonella enterica serovar Dublin STM mutant that, in addition to having reduced virulence, was also impaired when growing under various stress conditions. The mutation mapped to the manC ( rfbM ) gene of the O‐antigen gene cluster involved in O‐antigen synthesis. The O‐antigen is a component of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) forming a unique constituent of the outer membrane of Gram‐negative bacteria. While mutations in the O‐antigen genes usually eliminate the entire O‐antigen side chain we found that the transposon mutant produced intact O‐antigen, however, the mutation reduced the amount of LPS.