Studies on proteases and biofilm formation: two potential critical factors in the pathogenesis of Streptococcus suis

猪链球菌是世界范围内的主要猪病原体，通过呼吸道途径传播并定殖于猪的腭扁桃体。由该病原体引起的主要感染包括败血症、脑膜炎和心内膜炎。这些细菌感染给加拿大养猪业造成了重大的经济损失。研究了S.尽管在过去的十年中对潜在的毒力因子进行了大量的研究，但猪流感病毒入侵和感染宿主仍然不清楚。本实验室的研究项目是基于我们的中心假设，即宿主-细菌相互作用在S. suis感染，并关注蛋白酶活性和生物膜形成。本实验室是第一个在S.猪传染病。在这个应用中，我们建议进一步研究S的这些性质。并为它们在感染过程中的作用提供证据。我们的研究计划有两个互补的目标：（i）增加我们对猪病原体S的毒力决定因素的基础知识。猪链球菌，和（ii）使用这些知识，以确定新的候选疫苗或治疗目标，以控制S。猪传染病。

Streptococcus suis, a major swine pathogen worldwide, is transmitted via the respiratory route and colonizes the palatine tonsils of pigs. Major infections caused by this pathogen include septicemiae, meningitis and endocarditis. These bacterial infections generate important economic losses to the Canadian swine industry. The mechanisms by which S. suis invades and infects the host are still unclear even though numerous studies on potential virulence factors have been carried out over the past decade. The research program of my laboratory is based on our central hypothesis that host-bacteria interactions play a critical role in the pathogenesis of S. suis infections and focuses on protease activities and biofilm formation. Our laboratory is the first to study these two relevant aspects in S. suis infections. In this application, we propose to further investigate these properties of S. suis and to provide evidences for their contribution to the infectious process. Our research program has two complementary objectives: (i) increase our basic knowledge of the virulence determinants of the swine pathogen S. suis, and (ii) use this knowledge to identify new candidate vaccines or therapeutic targets to control S. suis infections.