Skip to main content
PMC home page
Infection and Immunity logoLink to Infection and Immunity
. 1995 May;63(5):1975–1979. doi: 10.1128/iai.63.5.1975-1979.1995

Discrimination of virulent and avirulent Streptococcus suis capsular type 2 isolates from different geographical origins.

S Quessy 1, J D Dubreuil 1, M Caya 1, R Higgins 1
PMCID: PMC173252  PMID: 7729910

Abstract

In an effort to relate the protein profile to virulence, proteins from the cellular fractions and from culture supernatants of Streptococcus suis capsular type 2 strains from different geographical origins were compared by using Western blots (immunoblots). The protein profiles of the cellular fractions were similar for the majority of virulent and avirulent isolates studied, with the exception of three virulent Canadian strains for which a 135-kDa protein was not detected. Examination of the culture supernatants revealed the presence of a 135-kDa protein in all strains except the same three virulent Canadian isolates. In addition, a 110-kDa protein was present in 14 of 16 virulent strains and not in avirulent isolates. When injected into mice, the 110-kDa protein induced an immunoglobulin G response and protected against infection with homologous and heterologous virulent strains. Four strains (1330, 0891, TD10, and R75/S2) that were avirulent in the mouse model of infection and four other strains (1591, 999, JL590, and AAH4) that were virulent in the mouse model were injected into pigs. All virulent strains reproduced the disease, and all avirulent strains failed to reproduce the disease (with the exception of transient lameness in one case and fever in another case). The 110-kDa protein therefore appears to be a reliable virulence marker and a good candidate for a subunit vaccine.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (450.8 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Arends J. P., Zanen H. C. Meningitis caused by Streptococcus suis in humans. Rev Infect Dis. 1988 Jan-Feb;10(1):131–137. doi: 10.1093/clinids/10.1.131. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Beaudoin M., Higgins R., Harel J., Gottschalk M. Studies on a murine model for evaluation of virulence of Streptococcus suis capsular type 2 isolates. FEMS Microbiol Lett. 1992 Dec 1;78(2-3):111–116. doi: 10.1016/0378-1097(92)90011-c. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Gottschalk M., Higgins R., Jacques M., Dubreuil D. Production and characterization of two Streptococcus suis capsular type 2 mutants. Vet Microbiol. 1992 Jan;30(1):59–71. doi: 10.1016/0378-1135(92)90094-a. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Hampson D. J., Trott D. J., Clarke I. L., Mwaniki C. G., Robertson I. D. Population structure of Australian isolates of Streptococcus suis. J Clin Microbiol. 1993 Nov;31(11):2895–2900. doi: 10.1128/jcm.31.11.2895-2900.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Holt M. E., Enright M. R., Alexander T. J. Protective effect of sera raised against different fractions of Streptococcus suis type 2. J Comp Pathol. 1990 Jul;103(1):85–94. doi: 10.1016/s0021-9975(08)80138-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Iglesias J. G., Trujano M., Xu J. Inoculation of pigs with Streptococcus suis type 2 alone or in combination with pseudorabies virus. Am J Vet Res. 1992 Mar;53(3):364–367. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Kataoka Y., Haritani M., Mori M., Kishima M., Sugimoto C., Nakazawa M., Yamamoto K. Experimental infections of mice and pigs with Streptococcus suis type 2. J Vet Med Sci. 1991 Dec;53(6):1043–1049. doi: 10.1292/jvms.53.1043. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Smith H. E., Vecht U., Gielkens A. L., Smits M. A. Cloning and nucleotide sequence of the gene encoding the 136-kilodalton surface protein (muramidase-released protein) of Streptococcus suis type 2. Infect Immun. 1992 Jun;60(6):2361–2367. doi: 10.1128/iai.60.6.2361-2367.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Towbin H., Staehelin T., Gordon J. Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose sheets: procedure and some applications. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Sep;76(9):4350–4354. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.9.4350. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Vecht U., Arends J. P., van der Molen E. J., van Leengoed L. A. Differences in virulence between two strains of Streptococcus suis type II after experimentally induced infection of newborn germ-free pigs. Am J Vet Res. 1989 Jul;50(7):1037–1043. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Vecht U., Wisselink H. J., Anakotta J., Smith H. E. Discrimination between virulent and nonvirulent Streptococcus suis type 2 strains by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Vet Microbiol. 1993 Jan;34(1):71–82. doi: 10.1016/0378-1135(93)90008-u. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Vecht U., Wisselink H. J., Jellema M. L., Smith H. E. Identification of two proteins associated with virulence of Streptococcus suis type 2. Infect Immun. 1991 Sep;59(9):3156–3162. doi: 10.1128/iai.59.9.3156-3162.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Williams A. E., Blakemore W. F., Alexander T. J. A murine model of Streptococcus suis type 2 meningitis in the pig. Res Vet Sci. 1988 Nov;45(3):394–399. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Williams A. E. Relationship between intracellular survival in macrophages and pathogenicity of Streptococcus suis type 2 isolates. Microb Pathog. 1990 Mar;8(3):189–196. doi: 10.1016/0882-4010(90)90046-s. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Infection and Immunity are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES