Toxin
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How it is venomous/poisonous: The main structures that allow Yersinia enterocolitica to be pathogenic or venomous in a sense are the high pathogenicity island or HPI that carrys yersiniabactin (Yersiniabactin is a siderophore-mediated iron uptake system) and the virulence plasmid pYV. The combination of these two is present in every stain that is considered to be highly virulent. Stains that are considered of low virulence only have the virulence plasmid pYV and the non-virulent strains lack both. (Garzetti, et al 2012). The pYV encodes for a type III secretion system or T3SS that injects a set of Yop effector proteins that inhibit most immune mechanisms of the host. This process enables the bacterium to survive in the host environment.
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