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Yersinia pestis kills Caenorhabditis elegans by a biofilm‐independent process that involves novel virulence factors
Author(s) -
Styer Katie L,
Hopkins Gregory W,
Bartra Sara Schesser,
Plano Gregory V,
Frothingham Richard,
Aballay Alejandro
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
embo reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.584
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1469-3178
pISSN - 1469-221X
DOI - 10.1038/sj.embor.7400516
Subject(s) - yersinia pestis , caenorhabditis elegans , virulence , biology , biofilm , microbiology and biotechnology , bacterial protein , genetics , bacteria , gene
It is known that Yersinia pestis kills Caenorhabditis elegans by a biofilm‐dependent mechanism that is similar to the mechanism used by the pathogen to block food intake in the flea vector. Using Y. pestis KIM5, which lacks the genes that are required for biofilm formation, we show that Y. pestis can kill C. elegans by a biofilm‐independent mechanism that correlates with the accumulation of the pathogen in the intestine. We used this novel Y. pestis–C. elegans pathogenesis system to show that previously known and unknown virulence‐related genes are required for full virulence in C. elegans. Six Y. pestis mutants with insertions in genes that are not related to virulence before were isolated using C. elegans. One of the six mutants carried an insertion in a novel virulence gene and showed significantly reduced virulence in a mouse model of Y. pestis pathogenesis. Our results indicate that the Y. pestis–C. elegans pathogenesis system that is described here can be used to ide.jpgy and study previously uncharacterized Y. pestis gene products required for virulence in mammalian systems.