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Infection and Immunity, November 2000, p. 6115-6126, Vol. 68, No. 11
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

The Locus of Enterocyte Effacement (LEE)-Encoded Regulator Controls Expression of Both LEE- and Non-LEE-Encoded Virulence Factors in Enteropathogenic and Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli

Simon J. Elliott,1 Vanessa Sperandio,1 Jorge A. Girón,1,2 Sooan Shin,1 Jay L. Mellies,1,3 Leslie Wainwright,1,4 Steven W. Hutcheson,1,5 Timothy K. McDaniel,1,6 and James B. Kaper1,*

Center for Vaccine Development and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 212011; Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias Microbiológicas, Instituto de Ciencias, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, Pue., Mexico2; Department of Biology, Reed College, Portland, Oregon 972023; Center for Biotechnology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 602014; Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 207425; and Illumina Inc., San Diego, California 921216

Received 11 April 2000/Returned for modification 26 June 2000/Accepted 7 August 2000

Regulation of virulence gene expression in enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) is incompletely understood. In EPEC, the plasmid-encoded regulator Per is required for maximal expression of proteins encoded on the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE), and a LEE-encoded regulator (Ler) is part of the Per-mediated regulatory cascade upregulating the LEE2, LEE3, and LEE4 promoters. We now report that Ler is essential for the expression of multiple LEE-located genes in both EPEC and EHEC, including those encoding the type III secretion pathway, the secreted Esp proteins, Tir, and intimin. Ler is therefore central to the process of attaching and effacing (AE) lesion formation. Ler also regulates the expression of LEE-located genes not required for AE-lesion formation, including rorf2, orf10, rorf10, orf19, and espF, indicating that Ler regulates additional virulence properties. In addition, Ler regulates the expression of proteins encoded outside the LEE that are not essential for AE lesion formation, including TagA in EHEC and EspC in EPEC. Delta ler mutants of both EPEC and EHEC show altered adherence to epithelial cells and express novel fimbriae. Ler is therefore a global regulator of virulence gene expression in EPEC and EHEC.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Center for Vaccine Development, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 685 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore, MD 21201. Phone: (410) 706 2493. Fax: (410) 706 0182. E-mail: jkaper{at}umaryland.edu.


Infection and Immunity, November 2000, p. 6115-6126, Vol. 68, No. 11
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.



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