The failure of different strains ofYersinia pestisto produce lipopolysaccharide O-antigen under different growth conditions is due to mutations in the O-antigen gene cluster

• DOI: 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2001.tb10608.x
• Publication Date: 2006-01-09T14:44:34Z
• Authors: Joann L. Prior; Julian Parkhill; Paul G. Hitchen; Karen L. Mungall; Kim Stevens; Howard R. Morris; Andrew J. Reason; Petra C.F. Oyston; Anne Dell; Brendan W. Wren; Richard W. Titball
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences; Yersinia pestis; Multigene Family; Mutation; Temperature; O Antigens; Genome, Bacterial; Mass Spectrometry

The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from eight strains of Yersinia pestis which had been cultured at 28 degrees C appeared to be devoid of an O-antigen when analysed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. LPS isolated from three of these strains which had been cultured at 37 degrees C also appeared to be devoid of an O-antigen. When the LPS from Y. pestis strain CO92 was purified and analysed by matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry, the observed signals were in the mass range predicted for molecules containing lipid A plus the core oligosaccharide but lacking an O-antigen. The nucleotide sequence of Y. pestis strain CO92 revealed the presence of a putative O-antigen gene cluster. However, frame-shift mutations in the ddhB, gmd, fcl and ushA genes are likely to prevent expression of the O-antigen thus explaining the loss of phenotype.