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Science 19 July 1996:
Vol. 273. no. 5273, pp. 367 - 370
DOI: 10.1126/science.273.5273.367
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Reports

Role of the Yersinia pestis Hemin Storage (hms) Locus in the Transmission of Plague by Fleas

B. Joseph Hinnebusch, * Robert D. Perry, Tom G. Schwan

Yersinia pestis, the cause of bubonic plague, is transmitted by the bites of infected fleas. Biological transmission of plague depends on blockage of the foregut of the flea by a mass of plague bacilli. Blockage was found to be dependent on the hemin storage (hms) locus. Yersinia pestis hms mutants established long-term infection of the flea's midgut but failed to colonize the proventriculus, the site in the foregut where blockage normally develops. Thus, the hms locus markedly alters the course of Y. pestis infection in its insect vector, leading to a change in blood-feeding behavior and to efficient transmission of plague.

B. J. Hinnebusch and T. G. Schwan, Laboratory of Microbial Structure and Function, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.
R. D. Perry, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536-0084, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: joe_hinnebusch{at}nih.gov


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)