Spatiotemporal Variations in Growth Rate and Virulence Plasmid Copy Number during Yersinia pseudotuberculosis InfectionShow others and affiliations
2021 (English)In: Infection and Immunity, ISSN 0019-9567, E-ISSN 1098-5522, Vol. 89, no 4, article id e00710-20Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Pathogenic Yersinia spp. depend on the activity of a potent virulence plasmid-encoded ysc/yop type 3 secretion system (T3SS) to colonize hosts and cause disease. It was recently shown that Yersinia pseudotuberculosis upregulates the virulence plasmid copy number (PCN) during infection and that the resulting elevated gene dose of plasmid-encoded T3SS genes is essential for virulence. When and how this novel regulatory mechanism is deployed and regulates the replication of the virulence plasmid during infection is unknown. In the present study, we applied droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) to investigate the dynamics of Y. pseudotuberculosis virulence PCN variations and growth rates in infected mouse organs. We demonstrated that both PCN and growth varied in different tissues and over time throughout the course of infection, indicating that the bacteria adapted to discrete microenvironments during infection. The PCN was highest in Peyer's patches and cecum during the clonal invasive phase of the infection, while the highest growth rates were found in the draining mesenteric lymph nodes. In deeper, systemic organs, the PCN was lower and more modest growth rates were recorded. Our study indicates that increased gene dosage of the plasmid-encoded T3SS genes is most important early in the infection during invasion of the host. The described ddPCR approach will greatly simplify analyses of PCN, growth dynamics, and bacterial loads in infected tissues and will be readily applicable to other infection models.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
American Society for Microbiology , 2021. Vol. 89, no 4, article id e00710-20
Keywords [en]
bacterial growth rate in tissues, ddPCR, plasmid copy number, type III secretion system, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis
National Category
Infectious Medicine
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-182102DOI: 10.1128/IAI.00710-20ISI: 000637755500029Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85103228662OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-182102DiVA, id: diva2:1543794
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2018-02376Swedish Research Council, 2018-02855Carl Tryggers foundation 2021-04-132021-04-132023-09-05Bibliographically approved