Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1996 Jul 19;273(5273):367-70.
doi: 10.1126/science.273.5273.367.

Role of the Yersinia pestis hemin storage (hms) locus in the transmission of plague by fleas

B J Hinnebusch  1 , R D Perry, T G Schwan
Affiliations

Role of the Yersinia pestis hemin storage (hms) locus in the transmission of plague by fleas

B J Hinnebusch et al. Science. .

Abstract

Yersinia pestis, the cause of bubonic plague, is transmitted by the bites of infected fleas. Biological transmission of plague depends on blockage of the foregut of the flea by a mass of plague bacilli. Blockage was found to be dependent on the hemin storage (hms) locus. Yersinia pestis hms mutants established long-term infection of the flea's midgut but failed to colonize the proventriculus, the site in the foregut where blockage normally develops. Thus, the hms locus markedly alters the course of Y. pestis infection in its insect vector, leading to a change in blood-feeding behavior and to efficient transmission of plague.

PubMed Disclaimer

LinkOut - more resources