Differential chitinase activity and production within Francisella species, subspecies, and subpopulations

Genotyping of Francisella tularensis (A1a, A1b, A2, and type B) and Francisella novicida has identified multiple differences between species and among F. tularensis subspecies and subpopulations. Variations in virulence, geographic distribution, and ecology are also known to exist among this group of bacteria, despite the >95% nucleotide identity in their genomes. This study expands the description of phenotypic differences by evaluating the ability of F. tularensis and F. novicida to degrade chitin analogs and produce active chitinases. Endochitinase activities were observed to vary among F. tularensis and F. novicida strains. The activity observed for F. tularensis strains was predominantly associated with whole-cell lysates, while the chitinase activity of F. novicida localized to the culture supernatant. In addition, the overall level of chitinase activity differed among the subpopulations of F. tularensis and between the species. Bioinformatic analyses identified two new putative chitinase genes (chiC and chiD), as well as the previously described chiA and chiB. However, the presence of these four open reading frames as intact genes or pseudogenes was found to differ between Francisella species and F. tularensis subspecies and subpopulations. Recombinant production of the putative chitinases and enzymatic evaluations revealed ChiA, ChiB, ChiC, and ChiD possessed dissimilar chitinase activities. These biochemical studies coupled with bioinformatic analyses and the evaluation of chiA and chiC knockouts in F. tularensis A1 and A2 strains, respectively, provided a molecular basis to explain the differential chitinase activities observed among the species and subpopulations of Francisella.