IAI FigSearch
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Fleckenstein, J. M.
Right arrow Articles by Dale, J. B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Fleckenstein, J. M.
Right arrow Articles by Dale, J. B.

Infection and Immunity, May 2000, p. 2766-2774, Vol. 68, No. 5
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Identification of a Gene within a Pathogenicity Island of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli H10407 Required for Maximal Secretion of the Heat-Labile Enterotoxin

James M. Fleckenstein,1,2,3,* Luther E. Lindler,3 Eric A. Elsinghorst,4 and James B. Dale1,2

Medicine Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Memphis, Tennessee 381041; Department of Medicine, University of Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee 381632; Department of Bacterial Diseases, Division of Communicable Diseases and Immunology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, D.C. 20307-51003; and Department of Microbiology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045-21064

Received 14 October 1999/Returned for modification 15 December 1999/Accepted 14 February 2000

Studies of the pathogenesis of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) have largely centered on extrachromosomal determinants of virulence, in particular the plasmid-encoded heat-labile (LT) and heat-stable enterotoxins and the colonization factor antigens. ETEC causes illnesses that range from mild diarrhea to severe cholera-like disease. These differences in disease severity are not readily accounted for by our current understanding of ETEC pathogenesis. Here we demonstrate that Tia, a putative adhesin of ETEC H10407, is encoded on a large chromosomal element of approximately 46 kb that shares multiple features with previously described E. coli pathogenicity islands. Further analysis of the region downstream from tia revealed the presence of several candidate open reading frames (ORFs) in the same transcriptional orientation as tia. The putative proteins encoded by these ORFs bear multiple motifs associated with bacterial secretion apparatuses. An in-frame deletion in one candidate gene identified here as leoA (labile enterotoxin output) resulted in marked diminution of secretion of the LT enterotoxin and lack of fluid accumulation in a rabbit ileal loop model of infection. Although previous studies have suggested that E. coli lacks the capacity to secrete LT, our studies show that maximal release of LT from the periplasm of H10407 is dependent on one or more elements encoded on a pathogenicity island.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Research Service (151), Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 1030 Jefferson Ave., Memphis, TN 38104. Phone: (901) 448-5786. Fax: (901) 577-7273. E-mail: jfleckenstei{at}utmem.edu.

Infection and Immunity, May 2000, p. 2766-2774, Vol. 68, No. 5
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. J. Virol. Eukaryot. Cell
Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. Clin. Vaccine Immunol. All ASM Journals

Copyright © 2000 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.