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J Bacteriol, May 1998, p. 2321-2329, Vol. 180, No. 9
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

The 102-Kilobase Unstable Region of Yersinia pestis Comprises a High-Pathogenicity Island Linked to a Pigmentation Segment Which Undergoes Internal Rearrangement

Carmen Buchrieser,1 Michael Prentice,1,2 and Elisabeth Carniel1,*

Unité de Bactériologie Moléculaire et Médicale, Laboratoire des Yersinia, Institut Pasteur, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France,1 and Department of Medical Microbiology, St. Bartholomew's and The Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London EC1A 7BE, United Kingdom2

Received 7 November 1997/Accepted 28 February 1998

Several pathogenicity islands have recently been identified in different bacterial species, including a high-pathogenicity island (HPI) in Yersinia enterocolitica 1B. In Y. pestis, a 102-kb chromosomal fragment (pgm locus) that carries genes involved in iron acquisition and colony pigmentation can be deleted en bloc. In this study, characterization and mapping of the 102-kb region of Y. pestis 6/69 were performed to determine if this unstable region is a pathogenicity island. We found that the 102-kb region of Y. pestis is composed of two clearly distinct regions: an approx 35-kb iron acquisition segment, which is an HPI per se, linked to an approx 68-kb pigmentation segment. This linkage was preserved in all of the Y. pestis strains studied. However, several nonpigmented Y. pestis strains harboring an irp2 gene have been previously identified, suggesting that the pigmentation segment is independently mobile. Comparison of the physical map of the 102-kb region of these strains with that of strain 6/69 and complementation experiments were carried out to determine the genetic basis of this phenomenon. We demonstrate that several different mechanisms involving mutations and various-size deletions are responsible for the nonpigmented phenotype in the nine strains studied. However, no deletion corresponded exactly to the pigmentation segment. The 102-kb region of Y. pestis is an evolutionarily stable linkage of an HPI with a pigmentation segment in a region of the chromosome prone to rearrangement in vitro.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institut Pasteur, Unité de Bactériologie Moléculaire et Médicale, Laboratoire des Yersinia, 28, rue du Dr. Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France. Phone: (33-1)-45-68-83-26. Fax: (33-1)-40-61-30-01. E-mail: carniel2{at}pasteur.fr.

J Bacteriol, May 1998, p. 2321-2329, Vol. 180, No. 9
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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