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Title: SEQUENCE OF VIRULENCE PLASMID PJM1 FROM THE MARINE FISH PATHOGEN VIBRIO ANGUILLARUM STRAIN 775

Author
item DI LORENZO, M - OREGON HEALTH & SCI U
item STORK, M - OREGON HEALTH & SCI U
item TOLMASKY, M - DEPT OF BIOL CA S UNIV
item ACTIS, L - DEPT OF MBIOL U OF MIAMI
item FARRELL, D - OREGON HEALTH & SCI U
item Welch, Timothy - Tim
item CROSA, L - OREGON HEALTH & SCI U
item WERTHEIMER, A - OREGON HEALTH & SCI U
item CHEN, Q - EISAI RESEARCH INSTITUTE
item SALINAS, P - IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCI,

Submitted to: Journal of Bacteriology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/13/2003
Publication Date: 1/10/2003
Citation: Di Lorenzo, M., Stork, M., Tolmasky, M.E., Actis, L.A., Farrell, D., Welch, T.J., Crosa, L.M., Wertheimer, A.M., Chen, Q., Salinas, P. 2003. Sequence of virulence plasmid pjm1 from the marine fish pathogen vibrio anguillarum strain 775. Journal of Bacteriology. 185(19):5822.

Interpretive Summary: Vibrio anguillarum is a gram-negative bacterium that causes a highly fatal invasive septicemic disease in a wide variety of fishes including cultured salmonids. The ability to cause disease is dependent on the presence of a plasmid that encodes a highly effective iron scavenging system. This work reports the complete nucleotide sequence of the pJM1 plasmid and the analysis of this sequence. Fifty nine genes were found on the plasmid 32% of which are related to iron scavenging. Other genes identified include those necessary for the replication of the plasmid and insertion sequence elements. Genes with no known function represent approximately 30 % of the sequence. These results provide valuable information about the role of the pJM1 plasmid in iron scavenging and its replication.

Technical Abstract: The virulence plasmid pJM1 enables the fish pathogen Vibrio anguillarum, a gram-negative polarly flagellated comma-shaped rod bacterium, to cause a highly fatal hemorrhagic septicemic disease in salmonids and other fishes, leading to epizootics throughout the world. The pJM1 plasmid 65,009-nucleotide sequence, with an overall G+C content of 42.6%, revealed genes and open reading frames (ORFs) encoding iron transporters, nonribosomal peptide enzymes, and other proteins essential for the biosynthesis of the siderophore anguibactin. Of the 59 ORFs, approximately 32% were related to iron metabolic functions. The plasmid pJM1 confers on V. anguillarum the ability to take up ferric iron as a complex with anguibactin from a medium in which iron is chelated by transferrin, ethylenediamine-di(o-hydroxyphenyl-acetic acid), or other iron-chelating compounds. The fatDCBA-angRT operon as well as other downstream biosynthetic genes is bracketed by the homologous ISV-A1 and ISV-A2 insertion sequences. Other clusters on the plasmid also show an insertion element-flanked organization, including ORFs homologous to genes involved in the biosynthesis of 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid. Homologues of replication and partition genes are also identified on pJM1 adjacent to this region. ORFs with no known function represent approximately 30% of the pJM1 sequence. The insertion sequence elements in the composite transposon-like structures, corroborated by the G+C content of the pJM1 sequence, suggest a modular composition of plasmid pJM1, biased towards acquisition of modules containing genes related to iron metabolic functions. We also show that there is considerable microheterogeneity in pJM1-like plasmids from virulent strains of V. anguillarum isolated from different geographical sources.