Cited by 181Escherichia coli research studiesAntibiotic Resistance in BacteriaEnterobacteriaceae and Cronobacter Research

Comparative analysis of Klebsiella pneumoniae genomes identifies a phospholipase D family protein as a novel virulence factor

Open access
Lery, Letícia MS, Frangeul, Lionel, Tomas, Anna, Passet, Virginie, Almeida, Ana S, Bialek-Davenet, Suzanne, Barbe, Valérie, Bengoechea, José A +3 more·2014·BMC Biology

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Klebsiella pneumoniae strains are pathogenic to animals and humans, in which they are both a frequent cause of nosocomial infections and a re-emerging cause of severe community-acquired infections. K. pneumoniae isolates of the capsular serotype K2 are among the most virulent. In order to identify novel putative virulence factors that may account for the severity of K2 infections, the genome sequence of the K2 reference strain Kp52.145 was determined and compared to two K1 and K2 strains of low virulence and to the reference strains MGH 78578 and NTUH-K2044. RESULTS: In addition to diverse functions related to host colonization and virulence encoded in genomic regions common to the four strains, four genomic islands specific for Kp52.145 were identified. These regions encoded genes for the synthesis of colibactin toxin, a putative cytotoxin outer membrane protein, secretion systems, nucleases and eukaryotic-like proteins. In addition, an insertion within a type VI secretion system locus included sel1 domain containing proteins and a phospholipase D family protein (PLD1). The pld1 mutant was avirulent in a pneumonia model in mouse. The pld1 mRNA was expressed in vivo and the pld1 gene was associated with K. pneumoniae isolates from severe infections. Analysis of lipid composition of a defective E. coli strain complemented with pld1 suggests an involvement of PLD1 in cardiolipin metabolism. CONCLUSIONS: Determination of the complete genome of the K2 reference strain identified several genomic islands comprising putative elements of pathogenicity. The role of PLD1 in pathogenesis was demonstrated for the first time and suggests that lipid metabolism is a novel virulence mechanism of K. pneumoniae.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1186/1741-7007-12-41

Cites

88 of 88 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • From a genome-wide search of K. pneumoniae strain Kp52.145, we found four active structural genes that were >50% identical to E. coli fepA: plasmid pII locus 0027 and chromosomal loci 1658, 2380, and 4984.

    “From a genome-wide search of K. pneumoniae strain Kp52.145 (19), we found four active structural genes that were >50% identical to E. coli fepA: the plasmid pII locus 0027 and the chromosomal loci 1658, 2380, and 4984.”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Lery, L. M., Frangeul, L., Tomas, A., Passet, V., Almeida, A. S., Bialek-Davenet, S., Barbe, V., Bengoechea, J. A., Sansonetti, P., Brisse, S., & Tournebize, R.
Affiliations
  • Institut Pasteur (FR)
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • Inserm (FR)
  • Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR)
  • Queen's University Belfast (GB)
Corresponding author
Tournebize, Régis
Venue
BMC Biology
Published
2014-05-29
Volume
12
Issue
1
Pages
41-41
ISSN
1741-7007 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2129183301
Cited by
181
References
88
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 5
FWCI
9.16
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • BMC Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Docusalut (Conselleria de Salut i Consum del Govern de les Illes Balears) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Hispana (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Endocrinology › Escherichia coli research studies
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Medicine › Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Endocrinology › Enterobacteriaceae and Cronobacter Research
Keywords
Klebsiella pneumoniae, virulence factors, phospholipase D, phospholipase D1, genomic islands, type VI secretion system, cardiolipin metabolism, lipid metabolism, bacterial pathogenesis, comparative genomics
MeSH terms
Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Bacterial Proteins, Genes, Bacterial, Multigene Family, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Molecular Sequence Data, Phospholipase D, Plasmids, Virulence, Mutagenesis, Insertional, Sequence Alignment, Genome, Bacterial, Virulence Factors, Genomic Islands, Lipid Metabolism, Mice, Bacterial Secretion Systems, Molecular Sequence Annotation

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review