Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Infection and Immunity logoLink to Infection and Immunity
. 1991 Nov;59(11):4056–4060. doi: 10.1128/iai.59.11.4056-4060.1991

Association between a large plasmid and 15- to 17-kilodalton antigens in virulent Rhodococcus equi.

S Takai 1, T Sekizaki 1, T Ozawa 1, T Sugawara 1, Y Watanabe 1, S Tsubaki 1
PMCID: PMC258996  PMID: 1937765

Abstract

Rhodococcus equi strains showing 15- to 17-kDa antigens in immunoblots were found to be virulent in mice. To study the genes specific to these antigens in virulent R. equi, we compared plasmid profiles, immunoblot profiles, and murine pathogenicity profiles of 10 strains of R. equi. All the strains showing 15- to 17-kDa antigens contained a large plasmid of approximately 85 kbp and were virulent in mice; however, the remaining strains lacked both the antigens and the large plasmid and were avirulent in mice. Mutants of virulent strains ATCC 33701 and L1, which were cured of the large plasmid by repeated passage at 38 degrees C, lacked the 15- to 17-kDa antigens and showed a dramatic decrease in lethality in mice. These results suggested that the presence of an 85-kbp plasmid may be essential for virulence and expression of 15- to 17-kDa antigens of R. equi and offered support for earlier observations that freshly isolated strains of R. equi killed mice, whereas laboratory-adapted strains did not.

Full text

PDF
4056

Images in this article

4057Image
on p.4057
4058Image
on p.4058
4058Image
on p.4058
4058Image
on p.4058
4059Image
on p.4059

Selected References

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

  1. Birnboim H. C., Doly J. A rapid alkaline extraction procedure for screening recombinant plasmid DNA. Nucleic Acids Res. 1979 Nov 24;7(6):1513–1523. doi: 10.1093/nar/7.6.1513. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bowles P. M., Woolcock J. B., Mutimer M. D. Experimental infection of mice with Rhodococcus equi: differences in virulence between strains. Vet Microbiol. 1987 Aug;14(3):259–268. doi: 10.1016/0378-1135(87)90113-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Chirino-Trejo J. M., Prescott J. F. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of whole-cell preparations of Rhodococcus equi. Can J Vet Res. 1987 Jul;51(3):297–300. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Desomer J., Dhaese P., Van Montagu M. Conjugative transfer of cadmium resistance plasmids in Rhodococcus fascians strains. J Bacteriol. 1988 May;170(5):2401–2405. doi: 10.1128/jb.170.5.2401-2405.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. 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]
  6. Martens R. J., Fiske R. A., Renshaw H. W. Experimental subacute foal pneumonia induced by aerosol administration of Corynebacterium equi. Equine Vet J. 1982 Apr;14(2):111–116. doi: 10.1111/j.2042-3306.1982.tb02359.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Nakazawa M., Haritani M., Sugimoto C., Isayama Y. Virulence of Rhodococcus equi for mice. Nihon Juigaku Zasshi. 1983 Oct;45(5):679–682. doi: 10.1292/jvms1939.45.679. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Prescott J. F. Capsular serotypes of Corynebacterium equi. Can J Comp Med. 1981 Apr;45(2):130–134. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Prescott J. F. Rhodococcus equi: an animal and human pathogen. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1991 Jan;4(1):20–34. doi: 10.1128/cmr.4.1.20. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Prescott J. F., Travers M., Yager-Johnson J. A. Epidemiological survey of Corynebacterium equi infections on five Ontario horse farms. Can J Comp Med. 1984 Jan;48(1):10–13. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Singer M. E., Finnerty W. R. Construction of an Escherichia coli-Rhodococcus shuttle vector and plasmid transformation in Rhodococcus spp. J Bacteriol. 1988 Feb;170(2):638–645. doi: 10.1128/jb.170.2.638-645.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Smith H. The mounting interest in bacterial and viral pathogenicity. Annu Rev Microbiol. 1989;43:1–22. doi: 10.1146/annurev.mi.43.100189.000245. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Takai S., Kawazu S., Tsubaki S. Humoral immune response of foals to experimental infection with Rhodococcus equi. Vet Microbiol. 1987 Aug;14(3):321–327. doi: 10.1016/0378-1135(87)90119-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Takai S., Koike K., Ohbushi S., Izumi C., Tsubaki S. Identification of 15- to 17-kilodalton antigens associated with virulent Rhodococcus equi. J Clin Microbiol. 1991 Mar;29(3):439–443. doi: 10.1128/jcm.29.3.439-443.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Takai S., Michizoe T., Matsumura K., Nagai M., Sato H., Tsubaki S. Correlation of in vitro properties of Rhodococcus (Corynebacterium) equi with virulence for mice. Microbiol Immunol. 1985;29(12):1175–1184. doi: 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1985.tb00907.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Takai S., Narita K., Ando K., Tsubaki S. Ecology of Rhodococcus (Corynebacterium) equi in soil on a horse-breeding farm. Vet Microbiol. 1986 Jul;12(2):169–177. doi: 10.1016/0378-1135(86)90078-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Takai S., Ohkura H., Watanabe Y., Tsubaki S. Quantitative aspects of fecal Rhodococcus (Corynebacterium) equi in foals. J Clin Microbiol. 1986 Apr;23(4):794–796. doi: 10.1128/jcm.23.4.794-796.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Woolcock J. B., Mutimer M. D., Farmer A. M. Epidemiology of Corynebacterium equi in horses. Res Vet Sci. 1980 Jan;28(1):87–90. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Yager J. A. The pathogenesis of Rhodococcus equi pneumonia in foals. Vet Microbiol. 1987 Aug;14(3):225–232. doi: 10.1016/0378-1135(87)90109-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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

RESOURCES