CheV enhances the virulence of Salmonella Enteritidis, and the Chev-deleted Salmonella vaccine provides immunity in mice

Background Salmonella enteritidis (SE) is a major zoonotic pathogen and causes infections in a variety of hosts. The development of novel vaccines for SE is necessary to eradicate this pathogen. Genetically engineered attenuated live vaccines are more immunogenic and safer. Thus, to develop a live attenuated Salmonella vaccine, we constructed a cheV gene deletion strain of SE (named Delta cheV) and investigated the role of cheV in the virulence of SE. First, the ability to resist environmental stress in vitro, biofilm formation capacity, drug resistance and motility of Delta cheV were analyzed. Secondly, the bacterial adhesion, invasion, intracellular survival assays were performed by cell model. Using a mouse infection model, an in vivo virulence assessment was conducted. To further evaluate the mechanisms implicated by the reduced virulence, qPCR analysis was utilized to examine the expression of the strain's major virulence genes. Finally, the immune protection rate of Delta cheV was evaluated using a mousemodel. Results Compared to C50336, the Delta cheV had significantly reduced survival ability under acidic, alkaline and thermal stress conditions, but there was no significant difference in survival under oxidative stress conditions. There was also no significant change in biofilm formation ability, drug resistance and motility. It was found that the adhesion ability of Delta cheV to Caco-2 cells remained unchanged, but the invasion ability and survival rate in RAW264.7 cells were significantly reduced. The challenge assay results showed that the LD50 values of C50336 and Delta cheV were 6.3 x 10(5) CFU and 1.25 x 10(7) CFU, respectively. After the deletion of the cheV gene, the expression levels of fimD, flgG, csgA, csgD, hflK, lrp, sipA, sipB, pipB, invH, mgtC, sodC, rfbH, xthA and mrr1 genes were significantly reduced. The live attenuated Delta cheV provided 100% protection in mice against SE infection. Conclusion All the results confirmed that the deletion of the cheV gene reduces the virulence of SE and provides significant immune protection in mice, indicating that Delta cheV could be potential candidates to be explored as live-attenuated vaccines.