Plasmid composition and virulence-associated factors of Yersinia pestis isolates from a plague outbreak at the Paraíba State, Brazil

Leal, Nilma Cintra; Almeida, Alzira Maria Paiva de; Ferreira, Luís Carlos de Souza

doi:10.1590/S0036-46651989000500001

Abstracts

Pathogenic Yersinia pestis isolates were collected during a plague outbreak at the Paraiba State in 1986. The Y. pestis isolates were investigated for the presence of virulence-associated factors and plasmid content. All strains analysed were proficient in the expression of the VW and fraction 1 antigens, pigment adsorption and pesticin-fibronolysin-coagulase production. A similar plasmid profile composed by four plasmid with molecular weight of 60, 44, 14.9, and 6.4 Megadaltons (MD) was found in all strains. DNA cleavage with EcoRI restriction enzyme further demonstrated the uniform plasmid content of the Y. pestis isolates. Seven additional Y. pestis strains, previously isolated in the same region but in an endemic state, showed the same plasmid fingerprint. The lack of any detectable difference between epidemic and endemic isolates as well as the value of plasmid fingerprints in epidemiology of Y. pestis is discussed.

Yersinia pestis; plasmids; virulence-associated factors

Cepas patogênicas de Yersinia pestis foram coletadas durante um surto de peste no Estado da Paraíba em 1986. Os isolados de Y. pestis foram analisados quanto a presença de fatores associados à virulência e conteúdo plasmidial. Todas as linhagens analisadas foram proficientes na expressão dos antígenos VW e fração 1, além de possuírem capacidade de adsorção de pigmentos e produção de pesticina-fibrinolisina-coagulase. Um perfil plasmidial semelhante composto por quatro plasmídeos com peso molecular de 60, 44, 14.9, e 6.4 MD foi encontrado em todas as linhagens. A clivagem do DNA plasmidial com a enzima de restrição EcoRI demonstrou o conteúdo plasmidial uniforme dos isolados de Y. pestis. Sete outras linhagens de Y. pestis, isoladas previamente no mesmo local mas em condição endêmica, mostraram o mesmo perfil plasmidial. A falta de diferenças entre os isolados epidêmicos e endêmicos assim como o uso do perfil plasmidial na epidemiologic de Y. pestis e discutida.

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

Plasmid composition and virulence-associated factors of Yersinia pestis isolates from a plague outbreak at the Paraíba State, Brazil (¹1) Research supported by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency and the Brazilian National Research Council.)

Composição plasmidial e fatores associados à virulência em cepas de Yersinia pestis de um surto de peste no Estado da Paraíba, Brasil

Nilma Cintra Leal^I; Alzira Maria Paiva de Almeida^I; Luís Carlos de Souza Ferreira^II

^ICentro de Pesquisas Aggeu Magalhães. Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

^IILaboratório de Imunopatologia Keizo Asami and Departamento de Biofísica e Radiobiologia. Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

^{Address for correspondence} Address for correspondence: Dr. L. C. S. Ferreira Laboratório de Imunopatologia Keizo Asami Universidade Federal de Pernambuco Cidade Universitária 50739 Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

SUMMARY

Pathogenic Yersinia pestis isolates were collected during a plague outbreak at the Paraiba State in 1986. The Y. pestis isolates were investigated for the presence of virulence-associated factors and plasmid content. All strains analysed were proficient in the expression of the VW and fraction 1 antigens, pigment adsorption and pesticin-fibronolysin-coagulase production. A similar plasmid profile composed by four plasmid with molecular weight of 60, 44, 14.9, and 6.4 Megadaltons (MD) was found in all strains. DNA cleavage with EcoRI restriction enzyme further demonstrated the uniform plasmid content of the Y. pestis isolates. Seven additional Y. pestis strains, previously isolated in the same region but in an endemic state, showed the same plasmid fingerprint. The lack of any detectable difference between epidemic and endemic isolates as well as the value of plasmid fingerprints in epidemiology of Y. pestis is discussed.

Key words:Yersinia pestis, plasmids, virulence-associated factors.

RESUMO

Cepas patogênicas de Yersinia pestis foram coletadas durante um surto de peste no Estado da Paraíba em 1986. Os isolados de Y. pestis foram analisados quanto a presença de fatores associados à virulência e conteúdo plasmidial. Todas as linhagens analisadas foram proficientes na expressão dos antígenos VW e fração 1, além de possuírem capacidade de adsorção de pigmentos e produção de pesticina-fibrinolisina-coagulase. Um perfil plasmidial semelhante composto por quatro plasmídeos com peso molecular de 60, 44, 14.9, e 6.4 MD foi encontrado em todas as linhagens. A clivagem do DNA plasmidial com a enzima de restrição EcoRI demonstrou o conteúdo plasmidial uniforme dos isolados de Y. pestis. Sete outras linhagens de Y. pestis, isoladas previamente no mesmo local mas em condição endêmica, mostraram o mesmo perfil plasmidial. A falta de diferenças entre os isolados epidêmicos e endêmicos assim como o uso do perfil plasmidial na epidemiologic de Y. pestis e discutida.

Full text available only in PDF format.

Texto completo disponível apenas em PDF.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are greatly indebted to Dr. R. Brubaker for the important advises on plasmid isolation procedure and to Mr. S. H. Almeida and Mrs. Y. Nakasawa for helpful technical assistance.

Recebido para publicação em 1/2/1989.

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1. ALMEIDA, C. R.; ALMEIDA, A. M. P.; VIEIRA, J. B.; GUIDA, U. & BUTLER, T. - Plague in Brazil during two years of bacteriological and serological surveillance. Bull. Wld. Hlth. Org., 59: 591-597, 1981.
2. ALMEIDA, A. M. P.; BRASIL, D. P.; CARVALHO, F. G. & ALMEIDA, C. R. - Isolamento de Yersinia pestis nos focos pestosos do Nordeste do Brasil no período de 1966 a 1982. Rev. Inst. Med. trop. S. Paulo, 27: 207-218, 1985.
3. ALMEIDA, A. M. P.: BRASIL, D. P.; LEAL, N. C; MELO, M. E. B.; REGO, R. V. & ALMEIDA, C. R. - Estudos bacteriológicos e sorológieos de um surto de peste no estado da Paraíba, Brasil. Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz, 1989. (in press).
4. BAHMANYAR, M. & CAVANAUGH, D. C. - Plague manual. Geneve, World Health Organization, 1976.
5. BALTAZARD, M.; DAVIS, D. H. S.; DEVIGNAT, R.; GIRARD, G.; GOHAR, M. A.; KARTMAN, L.; MEYER, K. F.; PARKER, M. T.; POLLITZER, R.; PRINCE, P. M.; QUAN, S. F. & WAGLE, P - Recommended laboratory methods for the diagnosis of plague. Bull. Wld. Hlth. Org., 14: 457-509, 1956.
6. BEESLEY, E. D.; BRUBAKER, R. R.; JANSSEN, W. A. & SURGALLA, H. J. - Pesticins. III - Expression of coagulase and mechanism of fibrinolysis. J. Bact., 94: 19-26, 1967.
7. BENGURION, R. & SHAFFERMAN, A. - Essential virulence determinants of different Yersinia species are carried on a common plasmid. Plasmid, 5: 183-187, 1981.
8. BRUBAKER, R. R. - Expression of virulence in Yersinia In: SHELESSINGER, D., ed. Microbiology New York, American Society for Microbiology, 1979. p. 168-171.
9. BRUBAKER, R. R. - The genus Yersinia: biochemistry and genetics of virulence. Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol., 57: 111-158, 1972.
10. BRUNNER, F.; MARGADANT, A.; PEDUZZI, R. & PIFFARETTI, J. C. - The plasmid pattern as an epidemiologic tool for Salmonella typhimurium epidemics: comparison with the lysotype. J. infect. Dis., 148: 7-11, 1983.
11. CASSE, F.; BOUCHER, C; JULLIOT, J. S.; MICHEL, M. & DENAIRE, J. - Identification and characterization of large Plasmids in Rhizobium melillot using agarose gel electrophoresis. J. gen. Microbiol., 113: 229-242, 1979.
12. FERBER, D. M. & BRUBAKER, R. R. - Plasmids in Yersinia pestis Infect. Immun., 31: 839 841, 1981.
13. ISHIGURO, N.; NAKAOKA, Y.; SATO, G. & TSUBOKA, M. - Plasmid DNA relatedness among different sero-groups of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis J. clin. Microbiol., 21: 662-665, 1985.
14. LAIRD, W. J. & CAVANAUGH, D. C. - Correlation of autoagglutination and virulence of Yersinia J. clin. Microbiol., 11: 430 432, 1980.
15. MANIATIS, T.; FRITSCH, E. F. & SAMBROOK, J. - Molecular cloning. A laboratory manual. New York, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, 1982.
16. MAYER, L. W. - Use of Plasmid profiles in epidemiologic survaillance of disease outbreaks and in tracing the transmission of antibiotic resistance. Clin. Microbiol. Rev., 1: 228-243, 1988.
17. PORTNOY, D. A. & FALKOW, S. - Virulence-associated Plasmids from Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pestis J. Bact., 148: 877-883, 1981.
18. PORTNOY, D. A.; BLANK, H. F.; KINGSBURY, D. T. & FALKOW, S. - Genetic analysis of essential plasmid determinants of pathogenicity in Yersinia pestis J. infect. Dis., 148: 297 304. 1983.
19. PORTNOY, D. A. & MARTINEZ, R. J. - Role of a plasmid in the pathogenicity of Yersinia species. Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol., 118: 29 51, 1985.
20. TIETZE, E. & TSCHAPE, H. - Plasmid pattern analysis of natural bacterial isolates and its epidemiological implication. J. Hyg. (Lond.), 90: 475-488, 1983.
21. TSUKANO, H.; WAKE, A. & SAKAKIBARA, Y. - Plasmid like properties of the four virulence-associated factors of Yersinia pestis Microbiol. Immunol., 30: 837 848, 1986.
22. WARTENBERG, K.; WENINGER, J. & ROLLINGHORF, M. - Plasmids of Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis: analysis with restriction endonu cleases. Zbl. Bakt. Mikrobiol. Hyg., 268A: 213-219, 1988.
23. YEUNG, K. H.; DILLON, J. R.; PAUZÉ, M. & WALLACE, E. - A novel 4.9 kilobase plasmid associated with an outbreak of penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae J. infect Dis., 153: 1162 1165, 1986.

Address for correspondence:

Dr. L. C. S. Ferreira

Laboratório de Imunopatologia Keizo Asami

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

Cidade Universitária

50739 Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

1

) Research supported by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency and the Brazilian National Research Council.

Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
17 Nov 2010
Date of issue
Oct 1989

History

Received
01 Feb 1989

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

[1] 1. ALMEIDA, C. R.; ALMEIDA, A. M. P.; VIEIRA, J. B.; GUIDA, U. & BUTLER, T. - Plague in Brazil during two years of bacteriological and serological surveillance. Bull. Wld. Hlth. Org., 59: 591-597, 1981.

[2] 2. ALMEIDA, A. M. P.; BRASIL, D. P.; CARVALHO, F. G. & ALMEIDA, C. R. - Isolamento de Yersinia pestis nos focos pestosos do Nordeste do Brasil no período de 1966 a 1982. Rev. Inst. Med. trop. S. Paulo, 27: 207-218, 1985.

[3] 3. ALMEIDA, A. M. P.: BRASIL, D. P.; LEAL, N. C; MELO, M. E. B.; REGO, R. V. & ALMEIDA, C. R. - Estudos bacteriológicos e sorológieos de um surto de peste no estado da Paraíba, Brasil. Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz, 1989. (in press).

[4] 4. BAHMANYAR, M. & CAVANAUGH, D. C. - Plague manual. Geneve, World Health Organization, 1976.

[5] 5. BALTAZARD, M.; DAVIS, D. H. S.; DEVIGNAT, R.; GIRARD, G.; GOHAR, M. A.; KARTMAN, L.; MEYER, K. F.; PARKER, M. T.; POLLITZER, R.; PRINCE, P. M.; QUAN, S. F. & WAGLE, P - Recommended laboratory methods for the diagnosis of plague. Bull. Wld. Hlth. Org., 14: 457-509, 1956.

[6] 6. BEESLEY, E. D.; BRUBAKER, R. R.; JANSSEN, W. A. & SURGALLA, H. J. - Pesticins. III - Expression of coagulase and mechanism of fibrinolysis. J. Bact., 94: 19-26, 1967.

[7] 7. BENGURION, R. & SHAFFERMAN, A. - Essential virulence determinants of different Yersinia species are carried on a common plasmid. Plasmid, 5: 183-187, 1981.

[8] 8. BRUBAKER, R. R. - Expression of virulence in Yersinia In: SHELESSINGER, D., ed. Microbiology New York, American Society for Microbiology, 1979. p. 168-171.

[9] 9. BRUBAKER, R. R. - The genus Yersinia: biochemistry and genetics of virulence. Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol., 57: 111-158, 1972.

[10] 10. BRUNNER, F.; MARGADANT, A.; PEDUZZI, R. & PIFFARETTI, J. C. - The plasmid pattern as an epidemiologic tool for Salmonella typhimurium epidemics: comparison with the lysotype. J. infect. Dis., 148: 7-11, 1983.

[11] 11. CASSE, F.; BOUCHER, C; JULLIOT, J. S.; MICHEL, M. & DENAIRE, J. - Identification and characterization of large Plasmids in Rhizobium melillot using agarose gel electrophoresis. J. gen. Microbiol., 113: 229-242, 1979.

[12] 12. FERBER, D. M. & BRUBAKER, R. R. - Plasmids in Yersinia pestis Infect. Immun., 31: 839 841, 1981.

[13] 13. ISHIGURO, N.; NAKAOKA, Y.; SATO, G. & TSUBOKA, M. - Plasmid DNA relatedness among different sero-groups of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis J. clin. Microbiol., 21: 662-665, 1985.

[14] 14. LAIRD, W. J. & CAVANAUGH, D. C. - Correlation of autoagglutination and virulence of Yersinia J. clin. Microbiol., 11: 430 432, 1980.

[15] 15. MANIATIS, T.; FRITSCH, E. F. & SAMBROOK, J. - Molecular cloning. A laboratory manual. New York, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, 1982.

[16] 16. MAYER, L. W. - Use of Plasmid profiles in epidemiologic survaillance of disease outbreaks and in tracing the transmission of antibiotic resistance. Clin. Microbiol. Rev., 1: 228-243, 1988.

[17] 17. PORTNOY, D. A. & FALKOW, S. - Virulence-associated Plasmids from Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pestis J. Bact., 148: 877-883, 1981.

[18] 18. PORTNOY, D. A.; BLANK, H. F.; KINGSBURY, D. T. & FALKOW, S. - Genetic analysis of essential plasmid determinants of pathogenicity in Yersinia pestis J. infect. Dis., 148: 297 304. 1983.

[19] 19. PORTNOY, D. A. & MARTINEZ, R. J. - Role of a plasmid in the pathogenicity of Yersinia species. Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol., 118: 29 51, 1985.

[20] 20. TIETZE, E. & TSCHAPE, H. - Plasmid pattern analysis of natural bacterial isolates and its epidemiological implication. J. Hyg. (Lond.), 90: 475-488, 1983.

[21] 21. TSUKANO, H.; WAKE, A. & SAKAKIBARA, Y. - Plasmid like properties of the four virulence-associated factors of Yersinia pestis Microbiol. Immunol., 30: 837 848, 1986.

[22] 22. WARTENBERG, K.; WENINGER, J. & ROLLINGHORF, M. - Plasmids of Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis: analysis with restriction endonu cleases. Zbl. Bakt. Mikrobiol. Hyg., 268A: 213-219, 1988.

[23] 23. YEUNG, K. H.; DILLON, J. R.; PAUZÉ, M. & WALLACE, E. - A novel 4.9 kilobase plasmid associated with an outbreak of penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae J. infect Dis., 153: 1162 1165, 1986.

Brasil

Brasil

Plasmid composition and virulence-associated factors of Yersinia pestis isolates from a plague outbreak at the Paraíba State, Brazil

Composição plasmidial e fatores associados à virulência em cepas de Yersinia pestis de um surto de peste no Estado da Paraíba, Brasil

Abstracts

Publication Dates

History