Selective Protective Potency of Yersinia pestis ΔnlpD Mutants

It has recently been shown that the NlpD lipoprotein is essential to Yersinia pestis virulence and that subcutaneous administration of the nlpD mutant could protect mice against bubonic and pneumonic plague better than the EV vaccine strain [PLoS One 2009. V. 4. № 9. e7023]. In this study, similar ΔnlpD mutants were generated on the basis of other Y. pestis parent strains, including strains from the subspecies microtus, which is avirulent to guinea pigs and humans. Comparative testing confirmed that immunization of mice with ΔnlpD mutants induces immunity 105 times more potent than the one induced by the administration of the EV vaccine strain. At the same time, NlpD- bacteria failed to protect guinea pigs in the case of a subcutaneous challenge with Y. pestis, inducing a 106 times less potent protection compared with that conferred by immunization with the EV vaccine strain. The possible causes of the observed phenomena are discussed.