Role of the wbt Locus of Francisella tularensis in Lipopolysaccharide O-Antigen Biogenesis and Pathogenicity
- 1 January 2007
- journal article
- Published by American Society for Microbiology in Infection and Immunity
- Vol. 75 (1) , 536-541
- https://doi.org/10.1128/iai.01429-06
Abstract
Francisella tularensis is a highly infectious bacterial pathogen, responsible for the zoonotic disease tularemia. We screened a bank of transposon insertion mutants of F. tularensis subsp. holarctica LVS for colony morphology alterations and selected a mutant with a transposon insertion in wbtA, the first gene of the predicted lipopolysaccharide O-antigen gene cluster. Inactivation of wbtA led to the complete loss of O antigen, conferred serum sensitivity, impaired intracellular replication, and severely attenuated virulence in the mouse model. Notably, this mutant afforded protection against a challenge against virulent LVS.Keywords
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