The Nutritional Requirements of some Pasteurella Species

Abstract

SUMMARYThe nutritional requirements for growth on agar media a t 28" and a t 37" were investigated for strains representative of Pmteurella pseudotuberculosis, P . pestis and Pasteurella strain ' X ' ( Yersinia enterocolitica). At 28", strains of P. pseudotuberculosis either required no growth factors or were dependent on thiamine or pantothenate. Most strains of P. pestis required cystine, methionine and phenylalanine but some strains could dispense with methionine or phenylalanine while others required additional factors.Strains of Pasteurella ' X ' either were thiamine-dependent or required no factors. At 37" all strains showed additional requirements. Most strains of P. pseudotuberculosis could then grow with any 3 of the 4 factors glutamic acid, thiamine, cystine and pantothenate ; other strains specifically required all 4 factors and nicotinamide. Strains of P. pestis grew reliably on media supplemented with cystine, methionine, phenylalanine, glycine, valine, isoleucine, glutamic acid and thiamine when incubated in C0,-enriched air, All strains of Pasteurella 'X' required thiamine and either cystine or methionine ; some substrains showed additional requirements. Virulent and avirulent representative strains of P. pestis had similar calcium requirements for growth on defined media.

Yersinia pestis and Bubonic Plague

“…All of these properties favor maintenance in soil or water but are redundant in host fluids or the gorged flea vector. Indeed, pioneer studies undertaken with Y. pestis designed to correlate auxotrophy and avirulence demonstrated that the ability to synthesize many amino acids, pyrimidines and vitamins is dispensable, and only nutritional dependence on exogenous purines prevents sustained growth in vivo (Burrows, 1960;Burrows, 1963;Burrows and Gillett, 1966). On the other hand, loss of other traits shared by Y. pseudotuberculosis and Y. enterocolitica might facilitate the rapid invasion of tissues characteristic of plague bacilli.…”

Evolutionary Dynamics of the Yersinia enterocolitica Complex

“…Defined minimal medium complemented with sodium metabisulphite and amino acids isoleucine, valine, cystine, methionine, and phenylalanine was enough for growth of Y. pestis at 28°C, but had to be further complemented with glutaminc acid and thiamine and replacing cystine with thiosulphate. Y. pseudotuberculosis and Y. enterocolitica also had additional requirements at 37°C, although to a lower degree than Y. pestis (Burrows and Gillett, 1966;Brubaker, 1991). It is entirely possible that addition of other nutrients at 37°C could increase the metabolic activity and possibly show the activation of sources specific to pathogenic BTs.…”

“…Conversely certain metabolic functions might become redundant with limitation to highly specific niches (Rohmer, Hocquet and Miller, 2011). For Y. pestis, such a change in lifestyle to become reliant on an insect vector and a warm-blooded host has been investigated in the past, and additional nutrient requirements are known (Burrows and Gillett, 1966). Less is known about Y. enterocolitica metabolism and whether some biotypes have adapted to certain niches.…”

“…additional nutrient requirements were demonstrated upon temperature shift (Burrows and Gillett, 1966). Defined minimal medium complemented with sodium metabisulphite and amino acids isoleucine, valine, cystine, methionine, and phenylalanine was enough for growth of Y. pestis at 28°C, but had to be further complemented with glutaminc acid and thiamine and replacing cystine with thiosulphate.…”

“…It is referred to as the "hare-biotype", and has not been isolated from humans (Swaminathan, Harmon and Mehlman, 1982;Wuthe and Aleksic, 1997;Bartling, et al, 2004 (Burrows and Gillett, 1966;Perry and Fetherston, 1997;Navid and Almaas, 2009). This is due to the biphasic lifecycle of Y. pestis, being present either in a warm-blooded host or in the flea.…”