Polymorphisms influencing expression of dermonecrotic toxin in Bordetella bronchiseptica

PLoS One. 2015 Feb 2;10(2):e0116604. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0116604. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Bordetella bronchiseptica is a pathogenic bacterium causing respiratory infections in a broad range of mammals. Recently, we determined the whole genome sequence of B. bronchiseptica S798 strain isolated from a pig infected with atrophic rhinitis and found four single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at positions -129, -72, +22, and +38 in the region upstream of dnt encoding dermonecrotic toxin (DNT), when compared with a rabbit isolate, RB50. DNT is known to be involved in turbinate atrophy observed in atrophic rhinitis. Immunoblotting, quantitative real-time PCR, and β-galactosidase reporter assay revealed that these SNPs resulted in the increased promoter activity of dnt and conferred the increased ability to produce DNT on the bacteria. Similar or identical SNPs were also found in other pig isolates kept in our laboratory, all of which produce a larger amount of DNT than RB50. Our analysis revealed that substitution of at least two of the four bases, at positions -72 and +22, influenced the promoter activity for dnt. These results imply that these SNPs are involved in the pathogenicity of bordetellae specific to pig diseases.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Bordetella bronchiseptica / genetics*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial*
  • Humans
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide*
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic / genetics
  • Species Specificity
  • Transglutaminases / genetics*
  • Virulence Factors, Bordetella / genetics*

Substances

  • Virulence Factors, Bordetella
  • dermonecrotic toxin, Bordetella
  • Transglutaminases

Grants and funding

Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (26293096)(http://www.jsps.go.jp/j-grantsinaid/index.html), Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (26460525)(http://www.jsps.go.jp/j-grantsinaid/index.html), Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research for Challenging Exploratory Research (25670212)(http://www.jsps.go.jp/j-grantsinaid/index.html). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.