YfbA, a Yersinia pestis Regulator Required for Colonization and Biofilm Formation in the Gut of Cat Fleas

Abstract

For transmission to new hosts, Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, replicates as biofilm in the foregut of fleas that feed on plague-infected animals or humans. Y. pestis biofilm formation has been studied in the rat flea; however, little is known about the cat flea, a species that may bridge zoonotic and anthroponotic plague cycles. Here, we show that Y. pestis infects and replicates as a biofilm in the foregut of cat fleas in a manner requiring hmsFR, two determinants for extracellular biofilm matrix. Examining a library of transposon insertion mutants, we identified the LysR-type transcriptional regulator YfbA, which is essential for Y. pestis colonization and biofilm formation in cat fleas.