Amino acid substitutions in LcrV at putative sites of interaction with toll-like receptor 2 do not affect the virulence of Yersinia pestis

► Constructing LcrV2345, in which five amino acid residues were replaced with glutamine. ► Replaing the wild-type lcrV gene on the pCD1Ap plasmid with lcrV2345 gene. ► Both wild-type LcrV and LcrV2345 can't elicit significant levels of IL-10 in macrophage. ► Immunomodulation mediated by LcrV/TLR2 interactions does not play a significant role in the pathogenicity of Y. pestis.