ANALYSIS OF YERSINIA PESTIS CHROMOSOMAL DETERMINANTS PGM(+) AND PST(S) ASSOCIATED WITH VIRULENCE

The ability to absorb exogenous pigments (Pgm+) has, until now, been considered an established virulence factor of Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague. This property correlates with the sensitivity to the bacteriocin pesticin (Psts). Both functions are chromosomally encoded. In the present study, using Hfr donors and isogenic Pgm- Psts and Pgm-Pstr mutants, these functions were shown to be determined by discrete but closely linked genes. These markers designated pgm and psn, respectively, were preliminarily located within a linkage group including 11 loci. It was also found that pigmentation is not essential for mouse virulence but is necessary for survival of Y. pestis in the flea, the plague vector. At the same time, conversion of an avirulent Pstr mutant to pesticin sensitivity restored some degree of virulence. © 1992.