Contribution of the FeoB transporter to Streptococcus suis virulence Authors Jesús Aranda Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain Pilar Cortés Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain Maria E. Garrido Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain Nahuel Fittipaldi Research Centre for Swine Infectiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada Montserrat Llagostera Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain Marcelo Gottschalk Research Centre for Swine Infectiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada Jordi Barbé Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain Keywords: Streptococcus suis, operon feo, iron uptake, bacterial virulence, streptococcal diseases Abstract The contribution of iron transporter systems encoded by feo genes to the pathogenic traits of streptococci is largely unknown, despite the fact that those systems are required for the full virulence of several gram-negative bacterial species. In this work, we show that the swine pathogen and zoonotic agent Streptococcus suis has a feoAB operon similar to that encoding an iron transporter system in Escherichia coli. Electrophoretic mobility assays and transcriptional analyses confirmed that the expression of S. suis feo genes is under the negative control of the ferric uptake regulator (Fur) protein. In vivo trials in mice using a feoB defective mutant strain were carried out to investigate the contribution of this gene to the virulence of S. suis. The results showed that the median lethal dose (LD50) of the mutant was approximately 10-fold higher than that of the wild-type parent strain. These data suggest that the Feo metal transporter plays a significant role in streptococcal infectious disease. This is in contrast to previous results reported for this same gene in other gram-positive bacterial species. [Int Microbiol 2009; 12(2):137-141] Author Biographies Jesús Aranda, Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain Pilar Cortés, Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain Maria E. Garrido, Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain Nahuel Fittipaldi, Research Centre for Swine Infectiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada Research Centre for Swine Infectiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada Montserrat Llagostera, Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain Marcelo Gottschalk, Research Centre for Swine Infectiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada Research Centre for Swine Infectiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada Jordi Barbé, Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain Downloads PDF Published 2010-01-13 Issue Vol. 12 No. 2 (2009) Section Research Articles License Submission of a manuscript to International Microbiology implies: that the work described has not been published before, including publication in the World Wide Web (except in the form of an Abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis); that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; that all the coauthors have agreed to its publication. 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