The pgm locus and pigmentation phenotype in Yersinia pestis

Genetics and Molecular Biology

Tereza Cristina Leal-balbino²  Nilma Cintra Leal²  Mirna Gisele Medeiros Do Nascimento²  Maria Betânia Melo De Oliveira²  Valdir De Queiroz Balbino¹  Alzira Maria Paiva De Almeida² 

[1] ,Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Centro de Pesquisas Aggeu Magalhães Departamento de MicrobiologiaRecife PE ,Brazil

关键词: Y. pestis;    high pathogenicity island;    pgm;    psn;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S1415-47572006000100024

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

The pigmentation (pgm) locus is a large unstable area of the Yersinia pestis chromosome composed of a segment of iron acquisition (HPI) linked to a pigmentation segment. In this work we examined the mobility of HPI and the pigmentation segment in three Y. pestis isolates using successive subcultures on Congo red agar (CRA) plates. Strain P. CE 882 was shown to be highly stable while strains P. Exu 340 and P. Peru 375 dissociated into several phenotypes, PCR analysis showing evidence of changes in the pgm locus of the derived cultures. Strains P. Exu 340 and P. Peru 375 produced previously unreported cultures positive for the pesticin/yersiniabactin outer membrane receptor (psn+) but negative for the iron-regulated protein (irp2-), suggesting the occurrence of rearrangements in this chromosomal region and either a sequential loss or the loss of separated segments. These results provide evidence that besides deletion en bloc, specific rearrangements are also involved in the deletion events for that locus.

【 授权许可】

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