The BtaF Trimeric Autotransporter of Brucella suis Is Involved in Attachment to Various Surfaces, Resistance to Serum and Virulence

RUIZ-RANWEZ, M.V.; POSADAS, D. M.; ESTEIN, S.; ABDIAN, P; MARTÍN, F.A.; ZORREGUIETA, A

PLOS ONE

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Lugar: San Francisco; Año: 2013 vol. 8

1932-6203

The adhesion of bacterial pathogens to host cells is an event that determinesinfection, and ultimately invasion and intracellular multiplication. Severalevidences have recently shown that this rule is also truth for the intracellular pathogen Brucella. Brucella suis displays the unipolar BmaC and BtaE adhesins,which belong to the monomeric and trimeric autotransporter (TA) families,respectively. It was previously shown that these adhesins are involved inbacterial adhesion to host cells and components of the extracellular matrix(ECM). In this work we describe the role of a new member of the TA family of B.suis (named BtaF) in the adhesive properties of the bacterial surface. BtaFconferred the bacteria that carried it a promiscuous adhesiveness to various ECM components and the ability to attach to an abiotic surface. Furthermore, BtaF wasfound to participate in bacterial adhesion to epithelial cells and was requiredfor full virulence in mice. Similar to BmaC and BtaE, the BtaF adhesin wasexpressed in a small subpopulation of bacteria, and in all cases, it was detectedat the new pole generated after cell division. Interestingly, BtaF was alsoimplicated in the resistance of B. suis to porcine serum. Our findings emphasize the impact of TAs in the Brucella lifecycle.