@article{mbs:/content/journal/micro/10.1099/13500872-145-1-197, author = "LillardJr, James W. and Bearden, Scott W. and Fetherston, Jacqueline D. and Perry, Robert D.", title = "The haemin storage (Hms+) phenotype of Yersinia pestis is not essential for the pathogenesis of bubonic plague in mammals", journal= "Microbiology", year = "1999", volume = "145", number = "1", pages = "197-209", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1099/13500872-145-1-197", url = "https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/13500872-145-1-197", publisher = "Microbiology Society", issn = "1465-2080", type = "Journal Article", keywords = "haemin binding", keywords = "resistance to reactive oxygen species", keywords = "neutrophils", keywords = "HeLa cells", abstract = "Summary: The haemin storage (Hms+) phenotype of Yersinia pestis enables this bacillus to form greenish/brown or red colonies on haemin or Congo Red agar plates, respectively, at 26 but not 37 °C. Escherichia coli strains that contain mutations in genes essential for siderophore biosynthesis, porphyrin generation and/or haemin transport remain unable to utilize exogenous haemin as a nutritional iron or porphyrin source when transformed with the cloned Y. pestis hmsHFRS locus. Further physiological analysis of the Hms+phenotype of Y. pestis strain KIM6+ suggests that the haemin and inorganic iron stored by the Hms system was not used nutritionally under subsequent iron-deficient conditions. In vitro analysis of the bactericidal effects of hydrogen peroxide, superoxide and nitric oxide showed that Hms- Y. pestis cells, in certain cases, were more susceptible than the Hms+parent cells to these reactive oxygen species at 26 and/or 37 °C. In adherence assays, a higher percentage of Hms+cells were associated with HeLa cells and normal human neutrophils, compared to Hms-cells. However, the Hms+phenotype did not provide any additional protection against the killing effects of neutrophils. Finally, LD50 analysis in subcutaneously infected mice showed that an Hms-strain was slightly more virulent than Hms+, indicating that the Hms phenotype is not essential for the pathogenesis of bubonic plague in mammals.", }