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Mycobacterium bovis BCG has been proposed as an effective live vector for multivalent vaccines. The development of mycobacterial genetic systems to express foreign antigens and the adjuvanticity of BCG are the basis for the potential use of this attenuated mycobacterium as a recombinant vaccine vector. Stable plasmid vectors without antibiotic resistance markers are needed for heterologous antigen expression in BCG. Our group recently described the construction of a BCG expression system using auxotrophic complementation as a selectable marker. In this work, LipL32 and LigAni antigens of Leptospira interrogans were cloned and expressed in M. bovis BCG Pasteur and in the auxotrophic M. bovis BCG ΔleuD strains under the control of the M. leprae 18kDa promoter. Stability of the plasmids during in vitro growth and after inoculation of the recombinant BCG strains in hamsters was compared. The auxotrophic complementation system was highly stable, even during in vivo growth, as the selective pressure was maintained, whereas the conventional vector was unstable in the absence of selective pressure. These results confirm the usefulness of the new expression system, which represents a huge improvement over previously described expression systems for the development of BCG into an effective vaccine vector.

An understanding of why certain Acinetobacter species are more successful in causing nosocomial infections, transmission and epidemic spread in healthcare institutions compared with other species is lacking. We used genomic, phenotypic and virulence studies to identify differences between Acinetobacter species. Fourteen strains representing nine species were examined. Genomic analysis of six strains showed that the A. baumannii core genome contains many genes important for diverse metabolism and survival in the host. Most of the A. baumannii core genes were also present in one or more of the less clinically successful species. In contrast, when the accessory genome of an individual A. baumannii strain was compared to a strain of a less successful species (A. calcoaceticus RUH2202), many operons with putative virulence function were found to be present only in the A. baumannii strain, including the csu operon, the acinetobactin chromosomal cluster, and bacterial defence mechanisms. Phenotype microarray analysis showed that compared to A. calcoaceticus (RUH2202), A. baumannii ATCC 19606(T) was able to utilise nitrogen sources more effectively and was more tolerant to pH, osmotic and antimicrobial stress. Virulence differences were also observed, with A. baumannii ATCC 19606(T), A. pittii SH024, and A. nosocomialis RUH2624 persisting and forming larger biofilms on human skin than A. calcoaceticus. A. baumannii ATCC 19606(T) and A. pittii SH024 were also able to survive in a murine thigh infection model, whereas the other two species were eradicated. The current study provides important insights into the elucidation of differences in clinical relevance among Acinetobacter species.

BACKGROUND: Leptospirosis is a zoonotic infectious disease that affects both humans and animals. The existing genetic tools for Leptospira spp. have improved our understanding of the biology of this spirochete as well as the interaction of pathogenic leptospires with the mammalian host. However, new tools are necessary to provide novel and useful information to the field. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A series of promoter-probe vectors carrying a reporter gene encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP) were constructed for use in L. biflexa. They were tested by constructing transcriptional fusions between the lipL41, Leptospiral Immunoglobulin-like A (ligA) and Sphingomyelinase 2 (sph2) promoters from L. interrogans and the reporter gene. ligA and sph2 promoters were the most active, in comparison to the lipL41 promoter and the non-induced controls. The results obtained are in agreement with LigA expression from the L. interrogans Fiocruz L1-130 strain. CONCLUSIONS: The novel vectors facilitated the in vitro evaluation of L. interrogans promoter activity under defined growth conditions which simulate the mammalian host environment. The fluorescence and rt-PCR data obtained closely reflected transcriptional regulation of the promoters, thus demonstrating the suitability of these vectors for assessing promoter activity in L. biflexa.

Leptospirosis is one of the most widespread zoonoses in the world and with over 260 pathogenic serovars there is an urgent need for a molecular system of classification. The development of multilocus sequence typing (MLST) schemes for Leptospira spp. is addressing this issue. The aim of this study was to identify loci with potential to enhance Leptospira strain discrimination by sequencing-based methods.We used bioinformatics to evaluate pre-existing loci with the potential to increase the discrimination of outbreak strains. Previously deposited sequence data were evaluated by phylogenetic analyses using either single or concatenated sequences. We identified and evaluated the applicability of the ligB, secY, rpoB and lipL41 loci, individually and in combination, to discriminate between 38 pathogenic Leptospira strains and to cluster them according to the species they belonged to. Pairwise identity among the loci ranged from 82.0-92.0%, while interspecies identity was 97.7-98.5%. Using the ligB-secY-rpoB-lipL41 superlocus it was possible to discriminate 34/38 strains, which belong to six pathogenic Leptospira species. In addition, the sequences were concatenated with the superloci from 16 sequence types from a previous MLST scheme employed to study the association of a leptospiral clone with an outbreak of human leptospirosis in Thailand. Their use enhanced the discriminative power of the existing scheme. The lipL41 and rpoB loci raised the resolution from 81.0-100%, but the enhanced scheme still remains limited to the L. interrogans and L. kirschneri species.As the first aim of our study, the ligB-secY-rpoB-lipL41 superlocus demonstrated a satisfactory level of discrimination among the strains evaluated. Second, the inclusion of the rpoB and lipL41 loci to a MLST scheme provided high resolution for discrimination of strains within L. interrogans and L. kirschneri and might be useful in future epidemiological studies.