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Type III Secretion Systems in Yersinia pestis and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis

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Bacterial Genomes and Infectious Diseases

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Abstract

Three species of bacteria in the genus Yersinia are pathogenic for humans. Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis cause enteric diseases. Yersinia pestis causes the disease known as plague. Studies utilizing DNA hybridization and multilocus DNA sequencing show that Y. pestis and Y. pseudotuberculosis are closely related at the genetic level, while Y. enterocolitica represents a distinct evolutionary lineage. It has been known for some time that Y. pestis, Y. pseudotuberculosis, and Y. enterocolitica encode homologous type III secretion system (TTSS) gene clusters on a common virulence plasmid. More recently, genome scale sequence analysis has revealed that Y. pestis and Y. pseudotuberculosis also encode homologous TTSS gene clusters on their chromosomes. In this chapter, we describe the genetic organization of TTSSs in Y. pestis and Y. pseudotuberculosis. We also describe several genetic changes in these TTSSs that have occurred during the evolution of Y. pseudotuberculosis and Y. pestis, and discuss the implications of these changes on our understanding of TTSS function during Yersinia pathogenesis.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Center for Infectious Diseases, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY

    James B. Bliska

  2. TB Center, Public Health Research Institute, Newark, NJ

    Michelle B. Ryndak

  3. School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY

    Jens P. Grabenstein

Authors
  1. James B. Bliska
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  2. Michelle B. Ryndak
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  3. Jens P. Grabenstein
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Genetics and Microbiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Voon L. Chan PhD

  2. Department of Paediatrics Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Philip M. Sherman MD, FRCPC

  3. Children’s Research Center, Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, School of Medicine and Medical Science, Dublin, Ireland

    Billy Bourke MD, FRCPI

  4. Conway Institute for Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College, Dublin, Ireland

    Billy Bourke MD, FRCPI

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© 2006 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ

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Bliska, J.B., Ryndak, M.B., Grabenstein, J.P. (2006). Type III Secretion Systems in Yersinia pestis and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis . In: Chan, V.L., Sherman, P.M., Bourke, B. (eds) Bacterial Genomes and Infectious Diseases. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-152-9_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-152-9_12

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-496-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-152-9

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