Comparative Genome Sequencing of Rickettsia Rickettsii Strains That Differ in Virulence

Overview

Journal Infect Immun

Publisher American Society for Microbiology

Specialty Allergy & Immunology

Date 2015 Feb 4

PMID 25644009

Citations 38

Authors

Tina R Clark

Nicholas F Noriea

DeAnna C Bublitz

Damon W Ellison

Craig Martens

Erika I Lutter

Ted Hackstadt

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Rickettsia rickettsii is an obligate intracellular pathogen that is the causative agent of Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Strains of R. rickettsii differ dramatically in virulence. In a guinea pig model of infection, the severity of disease as assessed by fever response varies from the most virulent, Sheila Smith, to Iowa, which causes no fever. To identify potential determinants of virulence in R. rickettsii, the genomes of two additional strains were sequenced for comparison to known sequences (comparative genome sequencing [CGS]). R. rickettsii Morgan and R strains were compared to the avirulent R. rickettsii Iowa and virulent R. rickettsii Sheila Smith strains. The Montana strains Sheila Smith and R were found to be highly similar while the eastern strains Iowa and Morgan were most similar to each other. A major surface antigen, rickettsial outer membrane protein A (rOmpA), is severely truncated in the Iowa strain. The region of ompA containing 13 tandem repeats was sequenced, revealing only seven shared SNPs (four nonsynonymous) for R and Morgan strains compared to Sheila Smith, with an additional 17 SNPs identified in Morgan. Another major surface antigen and autotransporter, rOmpB, exhibits a defect in processing in the Iowa strain such that the beta fragment is not cleaved. Sequence analysis of ompB reveals identical sequences between Iowa and Morgan strains and between the R and Sheila Smith strains. The number of SNPs and insertions/deletions between sequences of the two Montana strains and the two eastern strains is low, thus narrowing the field of possible virulence factors.

Citing Articles

virulence determinants RARP2 and RapL mitigate IFN- signaling in primary human dermal microvascular endothelial cells.

Fitzsimmons L, Bublitz D, Clark T, Hackstadt T mBio. 2024; 15(4):e0345023.

PMID: 38445878 PMC: 11005427. DOI: 10.1128/mbio.03450-23.

Endothelial Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Activation with Different Strains of : Possible Role in Rickettsial Pathogenesis.

Sahni A, Alsing J, Narra H, Montini M, Zafar Y, Sahni S Microorganisms. 2024; 12(2).

PMID: 38399700 PMC: 10892065. DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms12020296.

Pathogenic spp. as emerging models for bacterial biology.

Sit B, Lamason R J Bacteriol. 2024; 206(2):e0040423.

PMID: 38315013 PMC: 10883807. DOI: 10.1128/jb.00404-23.

Completed genomes for isolated from ticks and quality controlled for motility phenotype.

Nock A, Clark T, Barbian K, Martens C, Hackstadt T Microbiol Resour Announc. 2023; 12(10):e0036223.

PMID: 37655895 PMC: 10586118. DOI: 10.1128/MRA.00362-23.

Identification of an autotransporter peptidase of Rickettsia rickettsii responsible for maturation of surface exposed autotransporters.

Nock A, Aistleitner K, Clark T, Sturdevant D, Ricklefs S, Virtaneva K PLoS Pathog. 2023; 19(7):e1011527.

PMID: 37523399 PMC: 10414592. DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1011527.

References

Felsheim R, Kurtti T, Munderloh U . Genome sequence of the endosymbiont Rickettsia peacockii and comparison with virulent Rickettsia rickettsii: identification of virulence factors. PLoS One. 2009; 4(12):e8361. PMC: 2791219. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008361. View

RICKETTS H . Some aspects of Rocky Mountain spotted fever as shown by recent investigations. 1909. Rev Infect Dis. 1991; 13(6):1227-40. DOI: 10.1093/clinids/13.6.1227. View

McDONALD G, Anacker R, Garjian K . Cloned gene of Rickettsia rickettsii surface antigen: candidate vaccine for Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Science. 1987; 235(4784):83-5. DOI: 10.1126/science.3099387. View

Ellison D, Clark T, Sturdevant D, Virtaneva K, Porcella S, Hackstadt T . Genomic comparison of virulent Rickettsia rickettsii Sheila Smith and avirulent Rickettsia rickettsii Iowa. Infect Immun. 2007; 76(2):542-50. PMC: 2223442. DOI: 10.1128/IAI.00952-07. View

Waters L, Storz G . Regulatory RNAs in bacteria. Cell. 2009; 136(4):615-28. PMC: 3132550. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2009.01.043. View

Gillespie J, Kaur S, Rahman M, Rennoll-Bankert K, Sears K, Beier-Sexton M . Secretome of obligate intracellular Rickettsia. FEMS Microbiol Rev. 2014; 39(1):47-80. PMC: 4344940. DOI: 10.1111/1574-6976.12084. View

Lescot M, Audic S, Robert C, Nguyen T, Blanc G, Cutler S . The genome of Borrelia recurrentis, the agent of deadly louse-borne relapsing fever, is a degraded subset of tick-borne Borrelia duttonii. PLoS Genet. 2008; 4(9):e1000185. PMC: 2525819. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1000185. View

Price W . The epidemiology of Rocky Mountain spotted fever. I. The characterization of strain virulence of Rickettsia rickettsii. Am J Hyg. 1953; 58(2):248-68. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a119604. View

Tamura K, Peterson D, Peterson N, Stecher G, Nei M, Kumar S . MEGA5: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis using maximum likelihood, evolutionary distance, and maximum parsimony methods. Mol Biol Evol. 2011; 28(10):2731-9. PMC: 3203626. DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msr121. View

10.

Zhang D, Xu Z, Sun W, Karaolis D . The vibrio pathogenicity island-encoded mop protein modulates the pathogenesis and reactogenicity of epidemic vibrio cholerae. Infect Immun. 2002; 71(1):510-5. PMC: 143176. DOI: 10.1128/IAI.71.1.510-515.2003. View

11.

ORMSBEE R, Peacock M, GERLOFF R, TALLENT G, WIKE D . Limits of rickettsial infectivity. Infect Immun. 1978; 19(1):239-45. PMC: 414073. DOI: 10.1128/iai.19.1.239-245.1978. View

12.

Papenfort K, Vogel J . Regulatory RNA in bacterial pathogens. Cell Host Microbe. 2010; 8(1):116-27. DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2010.06.008. View

13.

Anacker R, PHILIP R, Williams J, LIST R, Mann R . Biochemical and immunochemical analysis of Rickettsia rickettsii strains of various degrees of virulence. Infect Immun. 1984; 44(3):559-64. PMC: 263624. DOI: 10.1128/iai.44.3.559-564.1984. View

14.

Niebylski M, Schrumpf M, BURGDORFER W, Fischer E, Gage K, Schwan T . Rickettsia peacockii sp. nov., a new species infecting wood ticks, Dermacentor andersoni, in western Montana. Int J Syst Bacteriol. 1997; 47(2):446-52. DOI: 10.1099/00207713-47-2-446. View

15.

Grieshaber N, Grieshaber S, Fischer E, Hackstadt T . A small RNA inhibits translation of the histone-like protein Hc1 in Chlamydia trachomatis. Mol Microbiol. 2006; 59(2):541-50. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2005.04949.x. View

16.

Weinberg E, Stakebake J, Gerone P . Plaque assay for Rickettsia rickettsii. J Bacteriol. 1969; 98(2):398-402. PMC: 284828. DOI: 10.1128/jb.98.2.398-402.1969. View

17.

Paddock C, Denison A, Lash R, Liu L, Bollweg B, Dahlgren F . Phylogeography of Rickettsia rickettsii genotypes associated with fatal Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2014; 91(3):589-97. PMC: 4155566. DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.14-0146. View

18.

Blanc G, Ngwamidiba M, Ogata H, Fournier P, Claverie J, Raoult D . Molecular evolution of rickettsia surface antigens: evidence of positive selection. Mol Biol Evol. 2005; 22(10):2073-83. DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msi199. View

19.

COX H . CULTIVATION OF RICKETTSIAE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPOTTED FEVER, TYPHUS AND Q FEVER GROUPS IN THE EMBRYONIC TISSUES OF DEVELOPING CHICKS. Science. 1941; 94(2444):399-403. DOI: 10.1126/science.94.2444.399. View

20.

Driskell L, Yu X, Zhang L, Liu Y, Popov V, Walker D . Directed mutagenesis of the Rickettsia prowazekii pld gene encoding phospholipase D. Infect Immun. 2009; 77(8):3244-8. PMC: 2715659. DOI: 10.1128/IAI.00395-09. View