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Background   Yersinia pestis  is the flea-transmitted etiological agent of bubonic plague. Sylvatic plague consists of complex tripartite interactions between diverse flea and wild rodent species, and pathogen strains. Transmission by flea bite occurs primarily by the  Y. pestis  biofilm-mediated foregut blockage and regurgitation mechanism, which has been largely detailed by studies in the model interaction between  Y. pestis  KIM6+ and  Xenopsylla cheopis . Here, we test if pathogen-specific traits influence this interaction by determining the dynamics of foregut blockage development in  X. cheopis  fleas among extant avirulent pCD1- Y. pestis  strains, KIM6+ and CO92, belonging to distinct biovars, and a non-circulating mutant CO92 strain (CO92gly), restored for glycerol fermentation; a key biochemical difference between the two biovars.    Methods  Separate flea cohorts infected with distinct strains were evaluated for (i) blockage development, bacterial burdens and flea foregut blockage pathology, and (ii) for the number of bacteria transmitted by regurgitation during membrane feeding. Strain burdens per flea was determined for fleas co-infected with CO92 and KIM6+ strains at a ratio of 1:1.    Results  Strains KIM6+ and CO92 developed foregut blockage at similar rates and peak temporal incidences, but the CO92gly strain showed significantly greater blockage rates that peak earlier post-infection. The KIM6+ strain, however, exhibited a distinctive foregut pathology wherein bacterial colonization extended the length of the esophagus up to the feeding mouthparts in ~65% of blocked fleas; in contrast to 32% and 26%, respectively, in fleas blocked with CO92 and CO92gly. The proximity of KIM6+ to the flea mouthparts in blocked fleas did not result in higher regurgitative transmission efficiencies as all strains transmitted variable numbers of  Y. pestis , albeit slightly lower for CO92gly. During competitive co-infection, strains KIM6+ and CO92 were equally fit maintaining equivalent infection proportions in fleas over time.    Conclusions  We demonstrate that disparate foregut blockage pathologies exhibited by distinct extant  Y. pestis  strain genotypes do not influence transmission efficiency from  X. cheopis  fleas. In fact, distinct extant  Y. pestis  genotypes maintain equivalently effective blockage and transmission efficiencies which is likely advantageous to maintaining continued successful plague spread and establishment of new plague foci.

parasites and vectors

Biovar-related differences apparent in the flea foregut colonization phenotype of distinct Yersinia pestis strains do not impact transmission efficiency