ReviewCurrent topics in microbiology and immunology2008
Yersinia pestis biofilm in the flea vector and its role in the transmission of plague.
Review in Current topics in microbiology and immunology, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
71 citing papers in PubMed, 128 citations in OpenAlex.
- Interaction of Bacteria and Fleas, Focusing on the Plague Bacterium-A Review.Microorganisms · 2025Review
- A Proteomic View on Persistence of Yersinia pestis in Tap Water Microcosm.Current microbiology · 2025Article
- Silent Carriers: The Role of Rodents in the Emergence of Zoonotic Bacterial Threats.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Article
- Brazilian fleas (Hexapoda: Siphonaptera): diversity, host associations, and new records on small mammals from the Atlantic Rainforest, including Rickettsia screening.Parasites & vectors · 2025Review
- Unseen Dangers-The Role of Invasive Species in the Spread of Zoonotic Diseases in Europe.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The interplay between species and locations shapes vector fleas microbial communities in plague foci: pathogens rather than symbionts?Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Article
- The CpxAR signaling system confers a fitness advantage for flea gut colonization by the plague bacillus.Journal of bacteriology · 2024Article
- The Natural and Clinical History of Plague: From the Ancient Pandemics to Modern Insights.Microorganisms · 2024Review
- The RNA chaperone Hfq has a multifaceted role inFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2024Article
- Reciprocal regulation of NagC and quorum sensing systems and their roles inMicrobiology (Reading, England) · 2023Article
- Comparative Lysine Acetylome Analysis of Y. pestis YfiQ/CobB Mutants Reveals that Acetylation of SlyA Lys73 Significantly Promotes Biofilm Formation of Y. pestis.Microbiology spectrum · 2023Article
- Genomic Analysis ofPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The role of RNA regulators, quorum sensing and c-di-GMP in bacterial biofilm formation.FEBS open bio · 2023Review
- Yersinia pestis genomes reveal plague in Britain 4000 years ago.Nature communications · 2023Article
- A frameshift ineLife · 2023Article
- Serological evidence of Yersinia pestis infection in rodents and carnivores in Northwestern Iran.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2023Article
- Stone AgeProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Climate Changes in Central Asia as a Prerequisite and Trigger of Plague Microbe (Contemporary problems of ecology · 2022Article
- Why vary what's working? Phase variation and biofilm formation inFrontiers in microbiology · 2022Review
11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Transmission by fleabite is a relatively recent evolutionary adaptation of Yersinia pestis, the bacterial agent of bubonic plague. To produce a transmissible infection, Y. pestis grows as an attached biofilm in the foregut of the flea vector. Biofilm formation both in the flea foregut and in vitro is dependent on an extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesized by the Yersinia hms gene products. The hms genes are similar to the pga and ica genes of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis, respectively, that act to synthesize a poly-beta-1,6-N-acetyl-d-glucosamine ECM required for biofilm formation. As with extracellular polysaccharide production in many other bacteria, synthesis of the Hms-dependent ECM is controlled by intracellular levels of cyclic-di-GMP. Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, the food- and water-borne enteric pathogen from which Y. pestis evolved recently, possesses identical hms genes and can form biofilm in vitro but not in the flea. The genetic changes in Y. pestis that resulted in adapting biofilm-forming capability to the flea gut environment, a critical step in the evolution of vector-borne transmission, have yet to be identified. During a flea bite, Y. pestis is regurgitated into the dermis in a unique biofilm phenotype, and this has implications for the initial interaction with the mammalian innate immune response.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.