Dataset Information

Common and specific characteristics of the high-pathogenicity island of Yersinia enterocolitica.

ABSTRACT: Yersinia pestis, Y. pseudotuberculosis O:1, and Y. enterocolitica biogroup 1B strains carry a high-pathogenicity island (HPI), which mediates biosynthesis and uptake of the siderophore yersiniabactin and a mouse-lethal phenotype. The HPI of Y. pestis and Y. pseudotuberculosis (Yps HPI) are highly conserved in sequence and organization, while the HPI of Y. enterocolitica (Yen HPI) differs significantly. The 43,393-bp Yen HPI sequence of Y. enterocolitica WA-C, serotype O:8, was completed and compared to that of the Yps HPI of Y. pseudotuberculosis PB1, serotype O:1A. A common GC-rich region (G+C content, 57.5 mol%) of 30.5 kb is conserved between yersinia strains. This region carries genes for yersiniabactin biosynthesis, regulation, and uptake and thus can be considered the functional "core" of the HPI. In contrast, the second part of the HPI is AT rich and completely different in two evolutionary lineages of the HPI, being 12.8 kb in the Yen HPI and 5.6 kb in the Yps HPI. The variable part acquired one IS100 element in the Yps HPI and accumulated four insertion elements, IS1328, IS1329, IS1400, and IS1222, in the Yen HPI. The insertion of a 125-bp ERIC sequence modifies the structure of the promoter of the ybtA yersiniabactin regulator in the Yen HPI. In contrast to the precise excision of the Yps HPI in Y. pseudotuberculosis, the Yen HPI suffers imprecise deletions. The Yen HPI is stably integrated in one of the three asn tRNA copies in Y. enterocolitica biogroup 1B (serotypes O:8, O:13, O:20, and O:21), probably due to inactivation of the putative integrase. The 17-bp duplications of the 3' end of the asnT RNA are present in both Yersinia spp. The HPI attachment site is unoccupied in nonpathogenic Y. enterocolitica NF-O, biogroup 1A, serotype O:5. The HPI of Yersinia is a composite and widely spread genomic element with a highly conserved yersiniabactin functional "core" and a divergently evolved variable part.

SUBMITTER: Rakin A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC96880 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Common and specific characteristics of the high-pathogenicity island of Yersinia enterocolitica.

Rakin A A Noelting C C Schubert S S Heesemann J J

Infection and immunity 19991001 10

Yersinia pestis, Y. pseudotuberculosis O:1, and Y. enterocolitica biogroup 1B strains carry a high-pathogenicity island (HPI), which mediates biosynthesis and uptake of the siderophore yersiniabactin and a mouse-lethal phenotype. The HPI of Y. pestis and Y. pseudotuberculosis (Yps HPI) are highly conserved in sequence and organization, while the HPI of Y. enterocolitica (Yen HPI) differs significantly. The 43,393-bp Yen HPI sequence of Y. enterocolitica WA-C, serotype O:8, was completed and comp ...[more]

PMID: 10496905

Similar Datasets

Project description:Yersinia enterocolitica is a pathogen that causes gastroenteritis in humans. Because of its low-temperature-dependent insecticidal activity, it can oscillate between invertebrates and mammals as host organisms. The insecticidal activity of strain W22703 is associated with a pathogenicity island of 19 kb (Tc-PAI Ye ), which carries regulators and genes encoding the toxin complex (Tc). The island also harbors four phage-related and highly conserved genes of unknown functions, which are polycistronically transcribed. Two open reading frames showed significant homologies to holins and endolysins and exhibited lytic activity in Escherichia coli cells upon overexpression. When a set of Yersinia strains was tested in an equivalent manner, highly diverse susceptibilities to lysis were observed, and some strains were resistant to lysis. If cell lysis occurred (as demonstrated by membrane staining), it was more pronounced when two accessory elements of the cassette coding for an i-spanin and an o-spanin were included in the overexpression construct. The pore-forming function of the putative holin, HolY, was demonstrated by complementation of the lysis defect of a phage λ S holin mutant. In experiments performed with membrane preparations, ElyY exhibited high specificity for W22703 peptidoglycan, with a cleavage activity resembling that of lysozyme. Although the functionality of the lysis cassette from Tc-PAI Ye was demonstrated in this study, its biological role remains to be elucidated.IMPORTANCE The knowledge of how pathogens survive in the environment is pivotal for our understanding of bacterial virulence. The insecticidal and nematocidal activity of Yersinia spp., by which the bacteria gain access to nutrients and thus improve their environmental fitness, is conferred by the toxin complex (Tc) encoded on a highly conserved pathogenicity island termed Tc-PAI Ye While the regulators and the toxin subunits of the island had been characterized in some detail, the role of phage-related genes within the island remained to be elucidated. Here, we demonstrate that this cassette encodes a holin, an endolysin, and two spanins that, at least upon overexpression, lyse Yersinia strains.

Project description:The human enteropathogen, Yersinia enterocolitica, is a significant link in the range of Yersinia pathologies extending from mild gastroenteritis to bubonic plague. Comparison at the genomic level is a key step in our understanding of the genetic basis for this pathogenicity spectrum. Here we report the genome of Y. enterocolitica strain 8081 (serotype 0:8; biotype 1B) and extensive microarray data relating to the genetic diversity of the Y. enterocolitica species. Our analysis reveals that the genome of Y. enterocolitica strain 8081 is a patchwork of horizontally acquired genetic loci, including a plasticity zone of 199 kb containing an extraordinarily high density of virulence genes. Microarray analysis has provided insights into species-specific Y. enterocolitica gene functions and the intraspecies differences between the high, low, and nonpathogenic Y. enterocolitica biotypes. Through comparative genome sequence analysis we provide new information on the evolution of the Yersinia. We identify numerous loci that represent ancestral clusters of genes potentially important in enteric survival and pathogenesis, which have been lost or are in the process of being lost, in the other sequenced Yersinia lineages. Our analysis also highlights large metabolic operons in Y. enterocolitica that are absent in the related enteropathogen, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, indicating major differences in niche and nutrients used within the mammalian gut. These include clusters directing, the production of hydrogenases, tetrathionate respiration, cobalamin synthesis, and propanediol utilisation. Along with ancestral gene clusters, the genome of Y. enterocolitica has revealed species-specific and enteropathogen-specific loci. This has provided important insights into the pathology of this bacterium and, more broadly, into the evolution of the genus. Moreover, wider investigations looking at the patterns of gene loss and gain in the Yersinia have highlighted common themes in the genome evolution of other human enteropathogens.

Dataset Information

Common and specific characteristics of the high-pathogenicity island of Yersinia enterocolitica.

Publications

Common and specific characteristics of the high-pathogenicity island of Yersinia enterocolitica.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets