Transcriptomic analysis of smooth versus rough Brucella melitensis Rev.1 vaccine strains reveals insights into virulence attenuation.

Transcriptomic analysis of smooth versus rough Brucella melitensis Rev.1 vaccine strains reveals insights into virulence attenuation. Int J Med Microbiol. 2019 Oct 21;:151363 Authors: Salmon-Divon M, Kornspan D Abstract Brucella melitensis Rev.1 is the live attenuated Elberg-originated vaccine strain of the facultative intracellular Brucella species, and is widely used to control brucellosis in small ruminants. However, Rev.1 may cause abortions in small ruminants that have been vaccinated during the last trimester of gestation, it is pathogenic to humans, and it induces antibodies directed at the O-polysaccharide (O-PS) of the smooth lipopolysaccharide, thus making it difficult to distinguish between vaccinated and infected animals. Rough Brucella strains, which lack O-PS and are considered less pathogenic, have been introduced to address these drawbacks; however, as Rev.1 confers a much better immunity than the rough mutants, it is still considered the reference vaccine for the prophylaxis of brucellosis in small ruminants. Therefore, developing an improved vaccine strain, which lacks the Rev.1 drawbacks, is a highly evaluated task, which requires a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the virulence attenuation of Rev.1 smooth strains and of natural Rev.1 rough strains, which are currently only partly understood. As the acidification of the Brucella-containing vacuole during the initial stages of infection is...
Source: International Journal of Medical Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Int J Med Microbiol Source Type: research