Open AccessDeletion of znuA Virulence Factor Attenuates Brucella abortus and Confers Protection against Wild-Type Challenge
Author(s) -
Xinghong Yang,
Todd C. Becker,
Nancy Walters,
David W. Pascual
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
infection and immunity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.508
H-Index - 220
eISSN - 1070-6313
pISSN - 0019-9567
DOI - 10.1128/iai.01957-05
Subject(s) - biology , virulence , microbiology and biotechnology , brucellaceae , attenuated vaccine , brucella melitensis , virulence factor , virology , brucella , mutant , escherichia coli , wild type , gene , brucellosis , genetics
znuA is known to be an important factor for survival and normal growth under low Zn2+ concentrations forEscherichia coli ,Haemophilus spp.,Neisseria gonorrhoeae , andPasteurella multocida . We hypothesized that theznuA gene present inBrucella melitensis 16 M would be similar toznuA inB. abortus and questioned whether it may also be an important factor for growth and virulence ofBrucella abortus . Using theB. melitensis 16 M genome sequence, primers were designed to construct aB. abortus deletion mutant. AznuA knockout mutation inB. abortus 2308 (ΔznuA ) was constructed and found to be lethal in low-Zn2+ medium. When used to infect macrophages,ΔznuA B. abortus showed minimal growth. Further study withΔznuA B. abortus showed that its virulence in BALB/c mice was attenuated, and most of the bacteria were cleared from the spleen within 8 weeks. Protection studies confirmed theΔznuA mutant as a potential live vaccine, since protection against wild-typeB. abortus 2308 challenge was as effective as that obtained with the RB51 or S19 vaccine strain.