Chromosomal irp2 gene in Yersinia: distribution, expression, deletion and impact on virulence

Geographical Heterogeneity between Far Eastern and Western Countries in Prevalence of the Virulence Plasmid, the SuperantigenYersinia pseudotuberculosis-Derived Mitogen, and the High-Pathogenicity Island amongYersinia pseudotuberculosisStrains

“…The present study demonstrated the presence of a complete HPI in some clinical strains of serotypes O3 and UT from the Far East. The distribution of YPMa and HPI in Y. pseudotuberculosis noted by Eastern and European investigators (1,10,14,34,47,49), respectively, was confirmed in the present study, in which 10-fold more strains than in our previous study were tested. Therefore, the difference in clinical manifestations of Y. pseudotuberculosis infection between the Far East and Western countries is related to heterogeneity in the distribution of YPMa or HPI.…”

“…The presence and size of the HPI within the Y. pseudotuberculosis species correlate with the serotype. At present, a complete island was found only in strains of serotype O1, HPI with a 9-kb truncation in its left-hand part is characteristic of serotype O3 strains, and HPI has not been detected in strains of other serotypes (5,14,34). Since data on only 43 strains, all of Y. pseudotuberculosis obtained from Europe (except for one strain of serotype O5a from Russia and two strains of serotype O4b from Japan [34]), have been reported (5,14,34), it is difficult to draw any conclusion concerning the definite prevalence of HPI, especially with regard to geographical distribution and the source of infection.…”

“…Y. pseudotuberculosis has been classified into serotypes O1 to O14 (43); serotypes O1 to O5 have been isolated in Europe and the Far East and almost all are pathogenic, while serotypes O6 to O14 have been isolated only from wild animals and environments in the Far East but never from clinical samples (1,13,17,20,21,43). There are numerous reports of each virulence factor of Y. pseudotuberculosis (1,5,7,14,19,34,45,46); however, comparisons of the prevalences of above virulence factors in the wild Y. pseudotuberculosis strains have not been documented.…”

Ribotyping and virulence markers of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis strains isolated from animals in Brazil

“…According to Carniel et al (1992), the irp2 gene is a marker of high pathogenicity and is only found in pathogenic strains (Almeida et al 1993). The absence of pYV in strains isolated from sick animals might be explained by the subsequent loss of this plasmid in some of these strains since they are stock cultures and have been frequently subcultured.…”

Characterizing the virulence factor YapE in Yersinia pestis.

“…This siderophore plays an important role in the acquisition of iron and murine virulence [37,39,40]. Inactivation of Ybt has been shown to significantly attenuate Yersinia [37,39,[41][42][43][44][45].…”