2018年5月29日
Naturally occurring a loss of a giant plasmid from Mycobacterium ulcerans subsp. shinshuense makes it non-pathogenic.
Scientific reports
- 巻
- 8
- 号
- 1
- 開始ページ
- 8218
- 終了ページ
- 8218
- 記述言語
- 英語
- 掲載種別
- 研究論文(学術雑誌)
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41598-018-26425-1
Mycobacterium ulcerans is the causative agent of Buruli ulcer (BU), a WHO-defined neglected tropical disease. All Japanese BU causative isolates have shown distinct differences from the prototype and are categorized as M. ulcerans subspecies shinshuense. During repeated sub-culture, we found that some M. shinshuense colonies were non-pigmented whereas others were pigmented. Whole genome sequence analysis revealed that non-pigmented colonies did not harbor a giant plasmid, which encodes elements needed for mycolactone toxin biosynthesis. Moreover, mycolactone was not detected in sterile filtrates of non-pigmented colonies. Mice inoculated with suspensions of pigmented colonies died within 5 weeks whereas those infected with suspensions of non-pigmented colonies had significantly prolonged survival (>8 weeks). This study suggests that mycolactone is a critical M. shinshuense virulence factor and that the lack of a mycolactone-producing giant plasmid makes the strain non-pathogenic. We made an avirulent mycolactone-deletion mutant strain directly from the virulent original.
- リンク情報
- ID情報
-
- DOI : 10.1038/s41598-018-26425-1
- PubMed ID : 29844323
- PubMed Central 記事ID : PMC5974349