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Infection and Immunity, August 2008, p. 3587-3594, Vol. 76, No. 8
0019-9567/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.01568-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

D-Alanylation of Lipoteichoic Acid Contributes to the Virulence of Streptococcus suis

Groupe de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses du Porc and Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie Porcine, Faculté de médecine vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, St-Hyacinthe, Quebec J2S 7C6, Canada,¹ Research Team for Bacterial/Parasitic Diseases, National Institute of Animal Health, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0856, Japan,² United Graduate School of Veterinary Sciences, Gifu University, 501-1193 Gifu, Japan,³ Department of Biochemical Pharmacology, University of Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany,⁴ Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire des Aliments, Laboratoire d'Études et de Recherches Avicoles et Porcines, Unité de Mycoplasmologie-Bactériologie, 22440 Ploufragan, France⁵

Received 27 November 2007/ Returned for modification 10 April 2008/ Accepted 6 May 2008

We generated by allelic replacement a dltA mutant of a virulent Streptococcus suis serotype 2 field strain and evaluated the contribution of lipoteichoic acid (LTA) D-alanylation to the virulence traits of this swine pathogen and zoonotic agent. The absence of LTA D-alanylation resulted in increased susceptibility to the action of cationic antimicrobial peptides. In addition, and in contrast to the wild-type strain, the dltA mutant was efficiently killed by porcine neutrophils and showed diminished adherence to and invasion of porcine brain microvascular endothelial cells. Finally, the dltA mutant was attenuated in both the CD1 mouse and porcine models of infection, probably reflecting a decreased ability to escape immune clearance mechanisms and an impaired capacity to move across host barriers. The results of this study suggest that LTA D-alanylation is an important factor in S. suis virulence.

Published ahead of print on 12 May 2008.

Editor: V. J. DiRita

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