To study Francisella gene expression changes associated with exposure to mammalian temperature, we conducted a microarray analysis of LVS as a model F. tularensis strain (Table 1). Gene expression of LVS cultured at 26°C (non-mammalian environment) was compared to bacteria shifted to 37°C (mammalian host body temperature). Labeled cDNA target was produced from RNA isolated from F. tularensis LVS and was subsequently hybridized to a custom Agilent Francisella microarray. Global gene expression data were analyzed with a J5 statistical test, which was selected to limit the number of false positives 31 . This analysis identified 95 genes with significantly increased expression and 125 genes with decreased expression in response to a shift to mammalian body temperature (see additional files 1 and 2, respectively). Collectively, this represents approximately ~11% of the genes in the entire LVS genome. Genes with a significant change in expression were examined with the Gene Pattern program by hierarchical clustering (Fig. 1). The clustered data exhibited a distinct pattern of transcript induction and repression in response to mammalian body temperature (Fig. 1). Together, these data indicate that this temperature shift has a broad impact on F. tularensis transcription.

The microarray data were confirmed using quantitative real time PCR (Q-PCR), in which eight differentially-expressed genes were analyzed, representing transcripts that were both significantly up- and down-regulated (Fig. 2A). Induced genes chosen for validation were the carbamoyl-phosphate synthase large chain, carB (FTL_0029), a hypothetical lipoprotein (FTL_1581), a dimethyladenosine transferase annotated to function in kasugamycin resistance, ksgA (FTL_1595), and phosphopentomutase, deoB (FTL_1664). The down-regulated genes tested by Q-PCR included two hypothetical proteins (FTL_1315 and FTL_1846), a cold shock protein, cspC (FTL_1361), and a metal ion transporter, tlyC (FTL_1697). A similar pattern of expression was observed in both Q-PCR and in the microarray experiments (Fig. 2A). A correlation plot (Fig. 2B) showed a strong, positive association between both data sets (R² = 0.94). This indicated the microarray platform and the subsequent statistical analysis were robust compared to the sensitive, though low-throughput Q-PCR approach.

To analyze the differentially-regulated genes more thoroughly, we categorized their presumed protein products based on their Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COG) category. As expected, many of the induced and repressed genes were involved in central biological functions such as metabolism, transcription, translation, DNA replication, and RNA genes (Fig. 3). Heat shock proteins belong to the category labeled "posttranslational modification/protein turnover/chaperones", and as anticipated, these genes were induced at the higher temperature, providing additional support to our microarray analysis (Fig. 3). The heat shock protein result was confirmed by analyzing Hsp70 protein quantity by Western blotting, which showed significantly more Hsp70 in bacteria shifted to 37°C versus F. tularensis LVS cultured at 26°C (data not shown). COG categories found only among the up-regulated transcripts included genes functioning in secretion and cell division, suggesting that host temperature may trigger these cellular processes and reflect, in part, enhanced growth rate (Fig. 3). In addition, the COG for bacterial defense mechanisms, which includes type I site-specific restriction-modification systems, was uniquely down-regulated. This response may have evolved to allow this bacterium to better contend with environmental stresses, such as invading bacteriophages. We observed that a large percentage of both up- and down-regulated genes (44% and 64% respectively) did not belong to a known COG category (Fig. 3). Proteins with an unknown COG category may have a novel biological role in F. tularensis associated with their temperature regulation.

We hypothesized that the shift from environmental to mammalian temperature may be used to regulate genes important for infection. Surprisingly, none of the genes encoded in the FPI were significantly up-regulated at 37°C in the microarray analysis. We also confirmed, by immunoblotting, that IglC protein levels were equivalent in bacteria grown at the two different temperatures (data not shown). Upon further scrutiny, we did notice that one gene in the FPI, pdpC (FTL_0116; FTL_1162), was near the statistical threshold for induction at 37°C. We therefore analyzed pdpC transcript levels by Q-PCR as before, which confirmed that this gene was induced at mammalian body temperature (Fig. 2A).

We next compared our list of genes induced at 37°C with those previously shown to be necessary for Francisella infection, or postulated to be involved in the pathogenesis of this organism (Table 2). Forty percent of the protein-coding genes significantly up-regulated at 37°C have been reported or predicted to be important for intracellular growth and/or virulence of F. tularensis (Table 2). The list depicted in Table 2 included an assortment of metabolic genes, chaperones, genes encoding hypothetical proteins, and others. The data from Table 2 and the pdpC expression results in Fig. 2A further supported our hypothesis that genes important for Francisella infection are regulated by mammalian body temperature.

FTL_1581, annotated as a hypothetical lipoprotein, was induced by mammalian temperature more profoundly than any other hypothetical protein gene in the F. tularensis LVS genome (based on both fold change and J5 score; Additional file 1). We selected this gene for further study to test our hypothesis that temperature regulates genes necessary for infection. A BLAST search 32 against the National Center for Biotechnology Information database of non-redundant sequences did not identify proteins from organisms other than Francisella that had >30% identity to FTL_1581 (data not shown). This suggested that FTL_1581 may have a function unique to F. tularensis. The primary structure of FTL_1581 was further examined by a PROSITE analysis 33 which indicated this protein likely contained a lipoprotein signal sequence (Fig. 4A) consistent with its annotation. This analysis also revealed that the signal sequence overlapped with a motif similar to that of the Enterobacterial TraT complement resistance protein (Fig. 4A). Although the initial BLAST search did not retrieve homologous proteins with high degrees of identity, it did show that FTL_1581 contained a domain with 20–24% identity and 40–44% similarity with the vacuolating cytotoxin (VacA; jhp0819) 34 35 and paralogs (jhp0556, jhp0856) of Helicobacter pylori J99 (Fig. 4A). Because FTL_1581 contained domains similar to other proteins that had a role in pathogenesis, we hypothesized that this protein may contribute to the virulence of F. tularensis.

We disrupted FTL_1581 in LVS, producing strain 1581d, to determine if this gene was associated with F. tularensis virulence. To assess the virulence of 1581d, we utilized a competition assay based on the chicken embryo infection model 36 37 38 . The chicken embryo produces a robust innate immune response comprised of complement, phagocytic cells, and cytokine production 39 40 . Here, chicken embryos were infected with a ~1:1 mixture of LVS and 1581d. At days 1, 2, and 3 post-infection, wild-type LVS exhibited superior survival compared to 1581d (P < 0.001 at each time point) (Fig. 4B). This result was not due to a growth defect since 1581d grew identically to wild-type LVS when cultivated in bacterial growth medium (data not shown). In a separate experiment in which chicken embryos were infected only with 1581d, isolates from homogenates were all resistant to hygromycin, indicating that this mutant did not revert to wild type during infection (data not shown). Since 1581d was attenuated compared to LVS, the results suggest the function of the FTL_1581 gene product contributes to F. tularensis virulence.

We wanted to determine if the virulence attenuation of 1581d in the chicken embryo infection model was due to a reduced ability to inactivate complement, as FTL_1581 contained a putative complement resistance domain (Fig. 4A). Therefore, we subjected LVS and 1581d to serum sensitivity assays. There was equivalent survival of wild-type LVS and 1581d when cultured in media containing 20% serum or 20% heat-inactivated serum for up to 20 h (data not shown). To ensure that the serum complement was functional, E. coli DH5α was used as a control. Here, the CFU from the serum-treated E. coli exhibited a reduction of 3 logs relative to the input or heat-inactivated serum groups after 30 min (data not shown). This suggested that the disruption in 1581d does not affect complement resistance.

We determined if FTL_1581 contributed to growth in a macrophage environment. Primary human monocyte-derived macrophages were infected in vitro with either LVS or 1581d. At various time-points, macrophages were lysed, and the lysates were diluted and plated to enumerate viable CFU. We observed attenuated growth of 1581d in macrophages at 24 h post-infection (P = 0.003) (Fig. 4C). When FTL_1581 was complemented in trans in 1581d, wild-type level of growth was restored (Fig. 4C). This complementation confirmed that the reduced intracellular fitness of 1581d was due to the inactivation of FTL_1581, and not due to polar effects or alternate mutations. This experiment (Fig. 4C) also suggested that the attenuation of 1581d in the chicken embryo model (Fig. 4B) was likely due to a defect in intracellular survival. Together, the data presented here implicate FTL_1581, a Francisella ORF induced by mammalian body temperature that has no obvious homologs, with virulence and intracellular survival. Therefore, we propose that FTL_1581 be named temperature-induced, virulence-associated locus A, or tivA.

Many of the genes critical for Francisella infection involved metabolism (Table 2), a major COG category induced at 37°C (Fig. 3). This suggested that physiology vital for the success of F. tularensis as a pathogen was regulated by the temperature shift. Therefore, we were interested in determining the contribution of temperature-regulated metabolic genes toward Francisella pathogenesis. Previously, a microarray-based negative selection screen of F. novicida transposon mutants identified the phosphopentomutase, deoB, as a gene contributing to growth and/or survival in mice 14 . In other bacteria, proteins encoded by deoB homologs normally catalyze the reversible reaction between ribose-1-phosphate and ribose-5-phosphate or between deoxyribose-1-phosphate and deoxyribose-5-phosphate 41 42 . An F. tularensis LVS chromosomal disruption mutant of deoB, FTL_1664, was constructed (strain 1664d). This mutant had a cellular and colony morphology similar to its wild-type parent strain (data not shown). Also, 1664d grew similarly to wild-type LVS in bacterial culture medium (data not shown).

We employed the chicken embryo infection model 36 37 38 to confirm that deoB contributes to LVS pathogenesis, as it did in F. novicida 14 . Here, chicken embryos that had been infected with F. tularensis LVS 1664d exhibited significantly enhanced survival compared to those infected with wild-type LVS over a 5 day period (P = 0.0254) (data not shown) corroborating the deoB data from F. novicida 14 .

Accessing the host cytoplasm to replicate intracellularly is a hallmark of Francisella pathogenesis. Therefore, we next tested if the virulence attenuation of 1664d in the chicken embryo infection model was due to a defect in entering host cells. At two hours post-infection in vitro, human, monocyte-derived macrophages were treated with gentamicin to kill extracellular bacteria, followed by extensive washing. We consistently observed that substantially fewer 1664d cells were phagocytosed relative to wild-type LVS (Fig. 5A) (P = 0.00005). Importantly, trans complementation of 1664d (1664d/pFTL_1664) rescued the uptake defect (Fig. 5A). This suggested deoB is involved in a bacterial mechanism that enhances uptake of F. tularensis. This finding was extended by conducting similar uptake assays in primary human dendritic cells (Fig. 5A). In both phagocytic cell types, the uptake defect of 1664d was reproduced and complemented (Fig. 5A).

We then qualitatively assessed uptake into phagocytes by microscopy to confirm the quantitative results obtained with CFU measurements. LVS, 1664d, and 1664d/pFTL_1664 were treated with the green fluorescent stain, Syto-9, and then incubated with RAW 264.7 cells, a murine macrophage-like cell line. After a two hour incubation and washes, cells were observed by fluorescence microscopy. Here, RAW 264.7 cells infected with LVS or 1664d/pFTL_1664 exhibited bright green fluorescence (Fig. 5B). In contrast, the RAW 264.7 cells infected with 1664d produced considerably less fluorescence despite comparable inocula to the cultures (Fig. 5B). The results obtained by microscopy suggested the discrepancy in CFU between wildtype and 1664d was not due to killing in the early phagosome. Rather, the levels of fluorescence in Fig. 5B were consistent with the CFU uptake data presented in Fig. 5A and confirmed that the temperature-regulated deoB is important for optimal uptake by mammalian phagocytes.

To determine if deoB contributed to entry into non-phagocytic cells, we exposed the human embryonic kidney cell line HEK-293 to either LVS, 1664d, or 1664d/pFTL_1664. At two hours post-infection, these cells were treated with gentamicin to kill extracellular bacteria followed by extensive washing. Subsequently, HEK-293 cells were lysed and the lysates were diluted and plated to enumerate CFU. Here we observed that 1664d showed reduced entry into the non-phagocytic HEK-293 cells (Fig. 5C). The uptake defect was again rescued by trans complementation (Fig. 5C). These data suggest that deoB contributes significantly to entry into both phagocytic (Fig. 5A and 5B) and non-phagocytic cells (Fig. 5C).

Bacterial strains used in this study can be found in Table 1. All broth cultures were grown with agitation (250 rpm). For general cultivation of Escherichia coli, bacteria were grown at 37°C on LB agar plates, or in LB broth. F. tularensis LVS, a model organism for tularaemia, was used in this study. For F. tularensis LVS strains, frozen stock cultures were streaked onto chocolate II agar plates and incubated at 37°C, 5% CO₂ for 2–4 days. These bacteria were subsequently used to inoculate broth cultures. For experiments assessing the effect of temperature on transcript levels, Chamberlain's chemically defined broth medium (CDM) 51 was inoculated with LVS and incubated at 37°C overnight. This start-up culture was used to inoculate fresh CDM (2 ml start-up culture into 25 ml fresh broth) and incubated at 26°C for 24 h. Following this incubation, the optical density (OD₆₀₀) of this culture was recorded and RNA was extracted. For the temperature shift, 5 ml of the same culture was diluted into 25 ml fresh CDM and incubated at 37°C until attaining an OD₆₀₀ comparable to the 26°C culture (typically ~6 h). When the 37°C culture reached the desired OD₆₀₀, RNA was harvested. This strategy of growing bacteria to comparable OD₆₀₀ prior to RNA extraction was similar to a previous study assessing global temperature regulation in Group A Streptococcus 19 and mitigates the effects of growth phase on the subsequent analysis.

For macrophage and chicken embryo infections, LVS strains were grown in TSBc (trypticase soy broth [Becton, Dickinson and Company] supplemented with 0.1% L-cysteine hydrochloride monohydrate) at 37°C while shaking at 250 rpm. When required, antibiotics were added to the media at the following concentrations: ampicillin at 150 μg/ml for E. coli; kanamycin at 35 μg/ml for E. coli and 10 μg/ml for F. tularensis LVS; chloramphenicol at 5 μg/ml for F. tularensis LVS; polymixin at 100 μg/ml; and hygromycin at 200 μg/ml.

The rationale for using CDM for the transcriptional analysis, while TSBc was used for all other experiments is two-fold. Using CDM for general cultivation of LVS is not practical because CDM is an aqueous mixture of 22 nutrients, some of which do not have a long shelf-life. Secondly, CDM was selected for transcriptional analyses to benefit future studies to analyze synergistic effects of temperature and media components.

Immediately upon removal from the shaking incubator, six ml of broth culture were mixed with 18 ml TriReagent LS (Molecular Research Center). Chloroform (4.8 ml) was added to this material, and the aqueous phase was subsequently separated by centrifugation in a Phase Lock Heavy tube (Eppendorf). RNA was precipitated from this aqueous layer with isopropanol, followed by centrifugation. Pelleted material was washed in 80% ethanol and resuspended in nuclease-free water. This RNA-containing mixture was treated with DNase (Turbo DNA-free, Ambion), and then precipitated using ammonium acetate and ethanol. RNA quantity was measured spectrophotometrically, and quality was assessed using an Agilent Bioanalyzer.

Custom Agilent Francisella microarrays designed using the eArray framework were used in this study. All predicted open reading frames, including pseudogenes, were included for F. tularensis subsp. holarctica LVS, F. tularensis subsp. tularensis (SchuS4), F. tularensis subsp. holarctica OSU18, F. novicida U112 and the Francisella plasmids, pOM1, and pFNL10. Individual genes from LVS, SchuS4, and OSU18 were spotted in duplicate on this array, whereas genes from the other strains and plasmids were printed as single copies. cDNA was synthesized from RNA by reactions using random hexamers (Invitrogen) and MMLV (Agilent). The cDNA target was labelled with Alexa Fluor 555 conjugated dUTP according to manufacturer's protocol (AF555-aha-dUTP; Invitrogen). Labelling reactions were incubated at 40°C for 3 hours. After cDNA synthesis, RNA was hydrolyzed with with NaOH and EDTA, and subsequently, the pH was neutralized with an equivalent volume of HCl. The labelled cDNA was precipitated using isopropanol and ammonium acetate and washed with 80% ethanol. 0.5 μg of labelled cDNA was hybridized to custom Agilent 8 × 15 K microarrays according to the protocol of the manufacturer and incubated at 60°C for 18 hours in a rotary oven. Following hybridization, arrays were washed with Agilent wash buffers before being scanned on an Agilent microarray scanner. At least 3 separate RNA extractions were used for each condition tested by microarray (26°C or 37°C-grown bacteria).

Gene Expression Data Analyzer (GEDA; http://bioinformatics.upmc.edu/GE2/GEDA.html) was utilized for analysis of the microarray data 31 . This online software package was used for minimum mean ratio array normalization followed by log₂ transformation. Data were grouped into two categories, cultivated at 26°C and shifted to 37°C, and analyzed for significance with the J5 statistical test 31 . The J5 metric was designed for data sets composed of limited replicates, thereby reducing the chance of generating false positives 31 . Genes were considered to be significantly differentially regulated if they had a J5 score greater than 2. Additional files 1 and 2 consist of lists showing both the J5 value and fold change for genes that were significantly up- or down-regulated upon a shift to mammalian temperature. Normalized, log₂ transformed intensity values for genes that were differentially expressed were input into GenePattern 52 and data are presented after hierarchical clustering (Pearson correlation).

Categories assigned for clusters of orthologous groups were identified for each significantly up- or down-regulated gene based on the annotation assigned from the F. tularensis holarctica genome (accession, NC_07880). Specific clusters of orthologous groups categories were consolidated into general categories as follows: J, K, L, and RNA genes were combined into "Transcription/translation/DNA replication/RNA"; P, C, G, E, F, H, I, and Q were merged into "Transport and metabolism"; categories N and U were combined into "Cellular functions/trafficking/secretion"; and categories R, S, and uncategorized genes were classified as "Unknown". All other clusters of orthologous groups categories were reported as they were originally assigned.

One μg of total RNA was used as a template for cDNA synthesis catalyzed by Superscript III (Invitrogen). Diluted cDNA was used as a template for real time reactions containing primer sets (designed by Primer 3 53 for the desired genes) and SYBR Green Supermix (BioRad). These reactions were carried out on a BioRad IQ5 real time machine. The bacterial 50S ribosomal protein L24 (FTL_0247) was used as an internal reference, as it was observed to have no change in expression following a shift to 37°C according to the microarray analysis (data not shown). The quantitative real time PCR data are presented as log₂ transformed fold change values (37°C versus 26°C).

Plasmids and primers used in this study can be found in Table 1. The disruption plasmids, pMQ131hyg1581d and pMQ131hyg1664d were constructed using the following procedures. First, the PvuI/SpeI fragment of pMP615 containing hyg under the control of the groEL promoter was subcloned into pMQ131 (R. Shanks and G. O'Toole, unpublished data) that had been digested with PvuI/XbaI which produced pMQ131hyg. The internal 560 base pairs of FTL_1581 were amplified by PCR using the primers 1581_560F and 1581_560R and this amplicon was initially TA cloned into pGEM-T (Promega). The KpnI/BamHI fragment of this construct containing the internal portion of FTL_1581 was subcloned into pMQ131hyg that had been digested with these same enzymes, which produced pMQ131hyg1581d. Similarly, the internal 900 base pairs of FTL_1664 were amplified by PCR using the primers 1664_900F and 1664_900R and this amplicon was initially TA-cloned into pGEM-T (Promega). Subsequently, this fragment internal to FLT_1664 was subcloned (KpnI/BamHI) into pMQ131hyg, producing the plasmid pMQ131hyg1664d.

The FTL_1581 complementing plasmid (pFTL_1581) was constructed using the following procedures. The primers 1581_clone_up and 1581_clone_down were used to amplify 600 base pairs upstream, the entire FTL_1581 open reading frame, and 100 base pairs downstream of this gene by PCR. This amplicon encompassed the predicted native FTL_1581 promoter, this gene's coding region, as well as the predicted transcriptional stop (data not shown). Initially, this amplicon was TA-cloned into pGEM-T (Promega). The SacI/SacII fragment of this construct containing FTL_1581 was subsequently subcloned into pMQ2 (R. Shanks and G. O'Toole, unpublished data) that had been digested with these same enzymes. This yielded pFTL_1581.

The FTL_1664 (deoB) complementing plasmid (pFTL_1664) was constructed using the following procedures. Initially, the Kan^R gene from pFNLTP8 was deleted using an inverse PCR strategy 54 . The primers F8AgeI and F8XhoI were used to amplify pFNLTP8. Following PCR, template DNA was digested with DpnI leaving only amplified product. This amplicon was self-ligated, producing pF8AX. The cat194 gene was amplified by PCR using the primers XhoICAT and AgeICAT with pMQ2 as a template, and this amplicon was TA-cloned into pGEM-T (Promega). The Age I/XhoI fragment of this construct that encoded the cat194 gene was subcloned into pF8AX using these same enzymes producing pF8CAT. 1664_clone_up and 1664_clone_down were used to amplify 600 base pairs upstream, the entire FTL_1664 open reading frame, and 100 base pairs downstream of this gene by PCR. This amplicon encompassed the predicted native FTL_1664 promoter, this gene's coding region, as well as the predicted transcriptional stop (data not shown). Initially, this amplicon was TA-cloned into pGEM-T(Promega). The BamHI/KpnI fragment of this construct containing FTL_1664 was subsequently subcloned into pF8CAT that had been digested with these same enzymes. This yielded pFTL_1664.

F. 0tularensis LVS disruption mutants of FTL_1664 and FTL_1581 were constructed as previously reported 55 . A homologous recombination between the LVS chromosomal copy of FTL_1581 and the internal FTL_1581 fragment in pMQ131hyg1581d would disrupt the coding sequence of 38 amino acids at the C-terminus. Also, homologous recombination between chromosomal FTL_1664 and pMQ131hyg1664d would disrupt coding sequence for the C-terminal 56 amino acids of the encoded protein. Disruption constructs (either pMQ131hyg1664d or pMQ131hyg1581d) were mobilized into F. tularensis LVS by triparental mating. Mating mixes were composed of LVS (10⁹ CFU), E. coli/pRK2013 (10⁷ CFU), and either E. coli/pMQ131hyg1664d or E. coli/pMQ131hyg1581d (10⁷ CFU). Similarly to the previously described Francisella conjugation methodology 56 , the mating mixture here was plated on LB agar plates, and incubated at room temperature for 18 hours. Cells were resuspended in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and spread onto chocolate II agar plates containing polymyxin (100 μg/ml) and hygromycin. Hygromycin-resistant colonies were screened by PCR using primers specific for either FTL_1581 or FTL_1664 and the vector-portion of pMQ131hyg1581d or pMQ131hyg1664d. The F. tularensis LVS FTL_1664 and FTL_1581 disruption mutants (FTL_1664::pMQ131hyg1664d; FTL_1581::pMQ131hyg1581d) are referred to as strains 1664d and 1581d respectively. Mobilization of complementation constructs into the disruption mutants was accomplished by electroporation as previously described 57 .

Bacteria (1.5 × 10⁹ CFU) were incubated in solutions of PBS with 20% serum (human serum [Gemini Bioscience]) or 20% heat-inactivated serum at 37°C while shaking at 250 rpm. Serum was incubated at 56°C for 30 minutes to inactivate complement. At certain time-points, cell suspensions were diluted and plated to enumerate CFU.

Chicken embryos were infected with F. tularensis LVS, 1664d, and 1581d as previously described 37 38 . Whiteleghorn chicken eggs (fertilized, specific pathogen free) were purchased from Charles River Laboratories, North Franklin, CT, USA. Eggs were incubated at 37°C with gentle rocking and humidity for one week prior to infection. Following the initial 7 day incubation, those without a live embryo were discarded. For infections, the surface of the egg shell was sterilized with 70% ethanol. The egg shell membrane was exposed and removed after introducing a small hole in the shell. Bacteria suspended in PBS (100 μl) were then injected beneath the chorioallantoic membrane. The hole in the egg shell was covered with transparent tape and subsequently eggs were incubated as previously described. On a daily basis, eggs were candled to assess viability for 6 days. As previously reported 37 , embryos that expired within 24 h of the infection were presumed to have experienced lethal trauma during inoculation, and were removed from the experiment. Survival differences in chicken embryo infections were analyzed with the log rank test in GraphPad Prism 5.

Competition studies in the chicken embryo infection model were conducted similar to the single infections described above. Here chicken embryos were infected with a mixture of LVS and 1581d (1:1 based on OD₆₀₀, ~10⁵ total bacteria). Actual input (6.5 × 10⁵ total bacteria) was determined by diluting the inoculum followed by plating to enumerate viable bacteria. Three infected, viable eggs were sacrificed at 1, 2, and 3 days (9 total eggs) post infection. Egg contents were homogenized with an OMNI tissue homogenizer, and serial dilutions of the homogenates were plated on chocolate II agar plates with or without antibiotic. The total number of 1581d (plates with antibiotic) was subtracted from the number of total bacteria (plates without antibiotic) to determine the amount of viable wild-type LVS. Competition ratios (1581d: LVS) were normalized to the input to account for small differences in the inocula, as has been done previously 58 59 . Competition ratios were analyzed for statistical significance by Chi square.

Human monocytes were differentiated into macrophages by in vitro culture as has been described previously 11 57 60 . Buffy coats from blood donations (Central Blood Bank, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) served as the source of monocytes. Monocytes were purified using Ficoll gradients (Amersham Biosciences) to isolate PBMCs, Optiprep gradients (Axis-Shield) to enrich for monocytes, and panning on plastic to further purify monocytes (final purity >95% based on microscopy). Cells were cultured in 60 mm culture dishes for 7 days at 37°C with 5% CO₂ in 7 ml of DMEM (Invitrogen) supplemented with 20% FCS (Invitrogen), 10% human serum (Gemini Biosciences), 25 mM HEPES (Gibco), and 1% Glutamax (Invitrogen) 11 57 60 . Macrophages were detached from the culture dish on day 7 using a lidocaine/EDTA solution (5 mM EDTA and 4 mg/ml lidocaine in PBS pH 7.2). For monocyte-derived dendritic cells, human monocytes were seeded at a density of 1 × 10⁶ cells/ml in 24 well plates (Costar) in complete RPMI [10% FCS, 25 mM HEPES, 1% non-essential amino acids, 1% sodium pyruvate, 1% Glutamax and 0.1% 2-mercaptoethanol (all from Gibco)] supplemented with 1000 U/ml GM-CSF and 1000 U/ml IL-4 (both from eBioscience) and incubated at 37°C with 5% CO₂. On day 3 of culture, 10% of the media was replaced with fresh complete RPMI supplemented with GM-CSF and IL-4 and non-adherent cells were harvested at day 5. For in vitro infections, all primary cells were washed and resuspended in DMEM supplemented with 1% human serum, 25 mM HEPES, and 1% Glutamax and then plated onto Primaria-coated 96-well culture dishes (Becton, Dickinson and Company) at a density of 5.0 × 10⁴ cells per well.

Murine macrophage-like RAW 264.7 cells (ATCC number TIB-71) were routinely cultured in DMEM supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum, 25 mM HEPES, and 1% Glutamax with 100 U/ml penicillin-streptomycin. Two days prior to infection, the medium for these cells was replaced with DMEM supplemented with 10% human serum, 25 mM HEPES, and 1% Glutamax, and infections were carried out using this same medium.

HEK-293 cells (ATCC number CRL-1573), a non-phagocytic cell line 61 , were cultivated in DMEM supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum, 25 mM HEPES, and 1% Glutamax with 100 U/ml penicillin-streptomycin. One day prior to infection, HEK-293 cells were seeded in 96-well plates at a concentration of 5 × 10⁴ cells per well in this same medium devoid of antibiotic and infections were carried out in this same medium.

For infection experiments, bacterial cultures were adjusted to an OD₆₀₀ of 0.3 (approximately 1.5 × 10⁹ CFU/ml) and diluted to attain a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 500, which typically yields infection rate >80% after a 2 hour co-incubation 11 62 . Alternatively, macrophages were suspended in DMEM supplemented with 10% human serum, 25 mM HEPES, and 1% Glutamax and transferred to culture dishes before infection. Prior to administration of the bacteria onto the macrophages, the F. tularensis strains were incubated at 37°C with 5% CO₂ for 20 min in this same medium. Macrophages were infected with bacteria that had been diluted to an MOI of 40. This alternative infection protocol used a lower MOI because it took advantage of the complement-mediated uptake of F. tularensis into macrophages 47 . Comparable results were obtained regardless of which infection protocol was used. Actual MOIs were measured by plating serial dilutions of inocula on chocolate II agar plates.

For intracellular CFU enumeration, mammalian cells were exposed to the initial bacterial load for 2 hours at 37°C with 5% CO₂ and then incubated with gentamicin (20 μg/ml) for 20 min to kill extracellular bacteria. The cells were washed with warm Hank's balanced salt solution and then incubated at 37°C with 5% CO₂ for another 22–48 h with fresh culture media. At the indicated time-points post-infection, mammalian cells were lysed with 0.02% sodium dodecyl sulfate. The 2 hour time point was used to determine entry similarly to a prior study 46 . Serial dilutions of the lysates were plated on chocolate II agar plates for enumeration of viable bacteria. CFU counts were converted to log₁₀ values and analyzed by the Student's t-Test to determine statistical differences. For uptake analysis, CFU were normalized to actual MOI to account for minor variations in the density of inocula 46 .

For fluorescence microscopy, bacteria were stained with 10 μM Syto 9 (Invitrogen) for 15 min and washed three times with PBS prior to infection. Here, stained cells were diluted in DMEM supplemented with 10% human serum, 25 mM HEPES, and 1% Glutamax, and were incubated at 37°C with 5% CO₂ for 20 min. These bacteria were used to inoculate RAW 264.7 in this same medium at an MOI of 10.