{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,9]],"date-time":"2026-07-09T05:24:54Z","timestamp":1783574694036,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,28]],"date-time":"2023-11-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1701129600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:p><jats:italic>Yersinia pestis<\/jats:italic>, the causative agent of plague, is a genetically monomorphic bacterial pathogen that evolved from <jats:italic>Yersinia pseudotuberculosis<\/jats:italic> approximately 7,400 years ago. We observed unusually frequent mutations in <jats:italic>Y. pestis<\/jats:italic> YPO0623, mostly resulting in protein translation termination, which implies a strong natural selection. These mutations were found in all phylogenetic lineages of <jats:italic>Y. pestis<\/jats:italic>, and there was no apparent pattern in the spatial distribution of the mutant strains. Based on these findings, we aimed to investigate the biological function of YPO0623 and the reasons for its frequent mutation in <jats:italic>Y. pestis<\/jats:italic>. Our <jats:italic>in vitro<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>in vivo<\/jats:italic> assays revealed that the deletion of YPO0623 enhanced the growth of <jats:italic>Y. pestis<\/jats:italic> in nutrient-rich environments and led to increased tolerance to heat and cold shocks. With RNA-seq analysis, we also discovered that the deletion of YPO0623 resulted in the upregulation of genes associated with the type VI secretion system (T6SS) at 26\u00b0C, which probably plays a crucial role in the response of <jats:italic>Y. pestis<\/jats:italic> to environment fluctuations. Furthermore, bioinformatic analysis showed that YPO0623 has high homology with a PLP-dependent aspartate aminotransferase in <jats:italic>Salmonella enterica<\/jats:italic>, and the enzyme activity assays confirmed its aspartate aminotransferase activity. However, the enzyme activity of YPO0623 was significantly lower than that in other bacteria. These observations provide some insights into the underlying reasons for the high-frequency nonsense mutations in YPO0623, and further investigations are needed to determine the exact mechanism.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcimb.2023.1288371","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,28]],"date-time":"2023-11-28T08:43:26Z","timestamp":1701161006000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Characterization of an aspartate aminotransferase encoded by YPO0623 with frequent nonsense mutations in Yersinia pestis"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Junyan","family":"Jin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liting","family":"Xiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yarong","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhulin","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ziyao","family":"Xiong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yanbing","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yanting","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenwu","family":"Yao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Leiming","family":"Shen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yiming","family":"Cui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yafang","family":"Tan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yanping","family":"Han","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zongmin","family":"Du","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yujun","family":"Cui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ruifu","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kai","family":"Song","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yajun","family":"Song","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2790","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1432-1327.2000.01299.x","article-title":"Aspartate aminotransferase from the Antarctic bacterium Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC 125. 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