Yersinia Yops and Pathogenesis

My laboratory studies the enteric bacterial pathogen, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, which causes gastroenteritis, mesenteric lymphadenitis and occasionally spreads systemically to organs in humans and other mammals, including mice. Pathogenic Yersinia spp. carry a virulence plasmid with genes encoding a type III secretion system and effector proteins, called Yops. The type III secretion system allows Yersinia to transport Yops directly from the cytoplasm of the mammalian cells where they disrupt mammalian cell functions. We have been investigating which Yops are needed for Y. pseudotuberculosis to colonize the GI tract and lymph tissues in a mouse model system of infection. Our goal is to understand the pathogenesis of this organism.