RobinsBrowne, R.
Cianciosi, S.
Bordun, AM.
Wauters, Georges
[UCL]
Forty-seven strains of Yersinia kristensenii from widely differing sources, representing all known O serogroups of this species, were investigated for virulence with a variety of animal ad in vitro assays. Twenty-four (51%) of the isolates were lethal for mice pretreated with iron dextran. Mouse-lethal strains occurred predominantly within O serogroups O:11, O:12,25, and O:16. Virulent Y. kristensenii strains generally did not express the virulence-associated phenotype (Ca2+ dependence and binding of Congo red and crystal violet) which characterizes virulent strains of Y. enterocolitica, nor did they carry the Yersinia virulence plasmid. Although all strains hybridized with a DNA probe derived from the inv (invasin) gene of Y. enterocolitica, none was able to invade HEp-2 epithelial cell culture. Y. kristensenii strains were virulent only when inoculated parenterally into iron-loaded mice. Animals infected in this way succumbed rapidly to infection, generally within 24 h. This finding suggested that the pathogenicity of these bacteria may be attributable to a secreted toxin, but a search for such a substance and for other in vitro correlates of pathogenicity was unsuccessful. These observations indicate that some strains of Y. kristensenii kill mice by a mechanism not previously recognized in yersiniae.
Bibliographic reference |
RobinsBrowne, R. ; Cianciosi, S. ; Bordun, AM. ; Wauters, Georges. Pathogenicity of Yersinia-kristensenii for Mice. In: Infection and Immunity, Vol. 59, no. 1, p. 162-167 (1991) |
Permanent URL |
http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/51302 |