Differential Gene Expression Patterns ofYersinia pestisandYersinia pseudotuberculosisduring Infection and Biofilm Formation in the Flea Digestive Tract
ABSTRACTYersinia pestis, the etiologic agent of plague, emerged as a fleaborne pathogen only within the last 6,000 years. Just five simple genetic changes in theYersinia pseudotuberculosisprogenitor, which served to eliminate toxicity to fleas and to enhance survival and biofilm formation in the flea digestive tract, were key to the transition to the arthropodborne transmission route. To gain a deeper understanding of the genetic basis for the development of a transmissible biofilm infection in the flea foregut, we evaluated additional gene differences and performedin vivotranscriptional profiling ofY. pestis, aY. pseudotuberculosiswild-type strain (unable to form biofilm in the flea foregut), and aY. pseudotuberculosismutant strain (able to produce foregut-blocking biofilm in fleas) recovered from fleas 1 day and 14 days after an infectious blood meal. Surprisingly, theY. pseudotuberculosismutations that increased c-di-GMP levels and enabled biofilm development in the flea did not change the expression levels of thehmsgenes responsible for the synthesis and export of the extracellular polysaccharide matrix required for mature biofilm formation. TheY. pseudotuberculosismutant uniquely expressed much higher levels ofYersiniatype VI secretion system 4 (T6SS-4) in the flea, and this locus was required for flea blockage byY. pseudotuberculosisbut not for blockage byY. pestis. Significant differences between the two species in expression of several metabolism genes, the Psa fimbrial genes, quorum sensing-related genes, transcription regulation genes, and stress response genes were evident during flea infection.IMPORTANCEY. pestisemerged as a highly virulent, arthropod-transmitted pathogen on the basis of relatively few and discrete genetic changes fromY. pseudotuberculosis. Parallel comparisons of thein vitroandin vivotranscriptomes ofY. pestisand twoY. pseudotuberculosisvariants that produce a nontransmissible infection and a transmissible infection of the flea vector, respectively, provided insights into howY. pestishas adapted to life in its flea vector and point to evolutionary changes in the regulation of metabolic and biofilm development pathways in these two closely related species.