Brucella monomeric adhesins variability, functionality and posible pseudogeniazation.

BIALER, MG ; POSADAS, DM ; FERRERO, MC ; RUIZ-RANWEZ, V ; DELPINO, MV ; BALDI, PC; ZORREGUIETA, A

Congreso; LI Reunión Sociedad Argentina de SAIB 2015 3-6 de noviembre de 2015; 2015

MI-C08Brucella MONOMERIC ADHESINS: VARIABILITY, FUNCTIONALITY ANDPOSSIBLE PSEUDOGENIZATIONBialer, MG1; Posadas, DM1; Ferrero, MC2; Ruiz-Ranwez, V1; Delpino, MV2; Baldi, PC2; Zorreguieta, A1.1Fundación Instituto Leloir,IIBBA CONICET, Argentina. 2IDEHU (CONICET/UBA), FFyB, UBA, Argentina.E-mail: mbialer@leloir.org.arBrucella is an intracellular pathogen responsible forbrucellosis. Adhesion to host surfaces is a critical step in theinfection process. Brucella genomes are very similar among species; however, itseems that much of the variability isassociated to surface proteins, suggesting they could contribute to hostpreference and tissue tropism. The genome ofBrucella suis 1330 harbors three autotransportersfrom the monomeric family (BmaA, B and C). We aimed to explorethe role of BmaA and BmaB in the interaction of Brucellawith the hostas well as the variability and functionality oftheir orthologs from different strains. A heterologous approach revealedthat the bmaA and bmaB genes of B. suisconfer adhesive properties to a non-adherent E. coli strain.Besides, mutants in bma genes of B. suis showed areduction in the adherence to HeLa, sinoviocytes, osteoblasts, andcolorectal epithelial cells, suggesting that they maycontribute to the interaction of Brucellawith host cellsbefore internalization. Bioinformatical analyses suggest that,in addition to variability in size and number of adhesion motifs among orthologs,BmaA and BmaB might representpseudogenes in several strains of B.melitensis and B.abortus. Theseobservations suggest that these adhesins couldrepresentfactors of bacterial surface variability between the different species, thus,contributing to host preference