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Yersinia pestis halotolerance illuminates plague reservoirs.
- Source :
-
Scientific reports [Sci Rep] 2017 Jan 05; Vol. 7, pp. 40022. Date of Electronic Publication: 2017 Jan 05. - Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- The plague agent Yersinia pestis persists for years in the soil. Two millennia after swiping over Europe and North Africa, plague established permanent foci in North Africa but not in neighboring Europe. Mapping human plague foci reported in North Africa for 70 years indicated a significant location at <3 kilometers from the Mediterranean seashore or the edge of salted lakes named chotts. In Algeria, culturing 352 environmental specimens naturally containing 0.5 to 70 g/L NaCl yielded one Y. pestis Orientalis biotype isolate in a 40 g/L NaCl chott soil specimen. Core genome SNP analysis placed this isolate within the Y. pestis branch 1, Orientalis biovar. Culturing Y. pestis in broth steadily enriched in NaCl indicated survival up to 150 g/L NaCl as L-form variants exhibiting a distinctive matrix assisted laser desorption-ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry peptide profile. Further transcriptomic analyses found the upregulation of several outer-membrane proteins including TolC efflux pump and OmpF porin implied in osmotic pressure regulation. Salt tolerance of Y. pestis L-form may play a role in the maintenance of natural plague foci in North Africa and beyond, as these geographical correlations could be extended to 31 plague foci in the northern hemisphere (from 15°N to 50°N).
- Subjects :
- Africa, Northern epidemiology
Gene Expression Profiling
Humans
Membrane Transport Proteins analysis
Membrane Transport Proteins genetics
Microbial Viability drug effects
Proteome analysis
Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
Yersinia pestis chemistry
Yersinia pestis drug effects
Yersinia pestis isolation & purification
Drug Tolerance
Plague epidemiology
Plague microbiology
Sodium Chloride metabolism
Soil Microbiology
Topography, Medical
Yersinia pestis physiology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 2045-2322
- Volume :
- 7
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Scientific reports
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 28054667
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/srep40022