Resistance of Yersinia pestis to Complement-Dependent Killing Is Mediated by the Ail Outer Membrane Protein
- 1 February 2008
- journal article
- Published by American Society for Microbiology in Infection and Immunity
- Vol. 76 (2) , 612-622
- https://doi.org/10.1128/iai.01125-07
Abstract
Yersinia pestis , the causative agent of plague, must survive in blood in order to cause disease and to be transmitted from host to host by fleas. Members of the Ail/Lom family of outer membrane proteins provide protection from complement-dependent killing for a number of pathogenic bacteria. The Y. pestis KIM genome is predicted to encode four Ail/Lom family proteins. Y. pestis mutants specifically deficient in expression of each of these proteins were constructed using lambda Red-mediated recombination. The Ail outer membrane protein was essential for Y. pestis to resist complement-mediated killing at 26 and 37°C. Ail was expressed at high levels at both 26 and 37°C, but not at 6°C. Expression of Ail in Escherichia coli provided protection from the bactericidal activity of complement. High-level expression of the three other Y. pestis Ail/Lom family proteins (the y1682, y2034, and y2446 proteins) provided no protection against complement-mediated bacterial killing. A Y. pestis ail deletion mutant was rapidly killed by sera obtained from all mammals tested except mouse serum. The role of Ail in infection of mice, Caenorhabditis elegans , and fleas was investigated.Keywords
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