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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Virus and Prion Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #348412
Research Project: Non-Antibiotic Strategies to Control Priority Bacterial Infections in Swine

Location: Virus and Prion Research

Title: The Streptococcos suis sortases SrtB and SrtF are essential for disease in pigs

Author
item FAULDS-PAIN, ALEXANDRA - London School Of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
item SHAW, HELEN - London School Of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
item Kellner, Steven
item Brockmeier, Susan
item WREN, BRENDAN - London School Of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Submitted to: Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/13/2018
Publication Date: 12/13/2018
Citation: Faulds-Pain, A., Shaw, H.A., Terra, V.S., Kellner, S., Brockmeier, S L., Wren, B.W. 2018. The Streptococcos suis sortases SrtB and SrtF are essential for disease in pigs. Microbiology. 165:163-173. https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.000752.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.000752

Interpretive Summary: Streptococcus suis colonizes the upper respiratory tracts of pigs potentially causing septicaemia, meningitis and death, placing a severe burden on the agricultural industry worldwide. It is also a zoonotic pathogen known to cause systemic infections and meningitis in humans. Understanding how S. suis interacts with and colonizes its host is important for future strategies of drug and vaccine development. Surface proteins of bacteria are often important in adhesion and invasion of host cells. Gram positive bacteria can utilize enzymes known as sortases to attach specific proteins bearing cell wall sorting signals to their surface where they can play a role in host-pathogen interactions. In this study deletion mutants of sortases in S. suis were generated and their importance in infections investigated. We found that the sortases, and thus their associated sorted proteins, are essential to the outcome of disease in pigs. This both adds to our knowledge of S. suis pathogenesis and suggests that generating an immune response to the putative sorted proteins may be useful in developing a vaccine that protects against S. suis infection in swine.

Technical Abstract: Streptococcus suis colonises the upper respiratory tracts of pigs potentially causing septicaemia, meningitis and death, placing a severe burden on the agricultural industry worldwide. It is also a zoonotic pathogen known to cause systemic infections and meningitis in humans. Understanding how S. suis interacts with and colonises its host is important for future strategies of drug and vaccine development. Surface proteins of bacteria are often important in adhesion and invasion of host cells. Gram positive bacteria can utilise enzymes known as sortases to attach specific proteins bearing cell wall sorting signals to their surface where they can play a role in host-pathogen interactions. In this study markerless in-frame deletion mutants of the housekeeping sortase srtA and the two pilus associated sortases, srtB and srtF were generated and their importance in S. suis infections investigated. We found that, like srtA, both srtB and srtF are essential to the outcome of disease in pigs, concluding that their cognate sorted proteins may also be useful in protecting these animals against infection.