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Virulence of an exotoxin A-deficient strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa toward the silkworm, Bombyx mori.

Authors :
Chieda Y
Iiyama K
Lee JM
Kusakabe T
Yasunaga-Aoki C
Shimizu S
Source :
Microbial pathogenesis [Microb Pathog] 2011 Dec; Vol. 51 (6), pp. 407-14. Date of Electronic Publication: 2011 Sep 17.
Publication Year :
2011

Abstract

We studied the contribution of exotoxin A to the virulence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa against the silkworm, Bombyx mori. First, an exotoxin A-deficient mutant strain (PAO1toxA) was created, and its virulence compared with that of the parental PAO1 strain. In a short-term mortality assay, the mutant harboring pBBR1MCS2 did not kill B. mori until 120 h after inoculation and complementation of the corresponding gene in trans restored the strain's virulence. Next, to ascertain whether or not it lost all virulence, PAO1toxA (pBBR1MCS2, pGFP) was used in a long-term mortality assay. B. mori inoculated with the mutant strain did not die until early in the 5th instar (240 h after inoculation). However, 50% of the inoculated B. mori died late in the 5th instar or in the early pupal stage (408 h after inoculation). All had died by the pupal stage (600 h after inoculation). The mutant strain was isolated from dead larvae and cocoons. The bacterial population of PAO1toxA in hemolymph reached 4.77 × 10(7) cfu/ml. These results indicated that exotoxin A acts as a virulence factor in B. mori and that other virulence factor(s) are involved during the late stages of infection.<br /> (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1096-1208
Volume :
51
Issue :
6
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Microbial pathogenesis
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
21945328
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micpath.2011.09.002