TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wagner, Martin
A1  - Slaghuis, Jörg
A1  - Göbel, Werner
A1  - Vázquez-Boland, José Antonio
A1  - Rychli, Kathrin
A1  - Schmitz-Esser, Stephan
T1  - Virulence pattern analysis of three Listeria monocytogenes lineage I epidemic strains with distinct outbreak histories
JF  - Microorganisms
N2  - Strains of the food-borne pathogen Listeria (L.) monocytogenes have diverse virulence potential. This study focused on the virulence of three outbreak strains: the CC1 strain PF49 (serovar 4b) from a cheese-associated outbreak in Switzerland, the clinical CC2 strain F80594 (serovar 4b), and strain G6006 (CC3, serovar 1/2a), responsible for a large gastroenteritis outbreak in the USA due to chocolate milk. We analysed the genomes and characterized the virulence in vitro and in vivo. Whole-genome sequencing revealed a high conservation of the major virulence genes. Minor deviations of the gene contents were found in the autolysins Ami, Auto, and IspC. Moreover, different ActA variants were present. Strain PF49 and F80594 showed prolonged survival in the liver of infected mice. Invasion and intracellular proliferation were similar for all strains, but the CC1 and CC2 strains showed increased spreading in intestinal epithelial Caco2 cells compared to strain G6006. Overall, this study revealed long-term survival of serovar 4b strains F80594 and PF49 in the liver of mice. Future work will be needed to determine the genes and molecular mechanism behind the long-term survival of L. monocytogenes strains in organs.
KW  - pathogenicity
KW  - whole-genome analysis
KW  - prolonged survival
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-245093
SN  - 2076-2607
VL  - 9
IS  - 8
ER  -