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 Heimer, S. R.
Right arrow Articles by Mobley, H. L. T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Heimer, S. R.
Right arrow Articles by Mobley, H. L. T.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, January 2004, p. 593-597, Vol. 72, No. 1
0019-9567/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.72.1.593-597.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Autotransporter Genes pic and tsh Are Associated with Escherichia coli Strains That Cause Acute Pyelonephritis and Are Expressed during Urinary Tract Infection

Susan R. Heimer,1 David A. Rasko,2 C. Virginia Lockatell,3 David E. Johnson,3,4 and Harry L. T. Mobley1*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology,1 Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21201,3 The Institute for Genomic Research, Rockville, Maryland 20850,2 Department of Veteran Affairs, Baltimore, Maryland 212014

Received 1 July 2003/ Returned for modification 5 August 2003/ Accepted 22 September 2003

We have identified two chromosomal open reading frames in uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) strain CFT073 which are highly homologous to serine protease autotransporters Pic and Tsh. Both cloned determinants were correlated with the presence of 105- to 110-kDa proteins in the culture supernatants. Furthermore, in cellular fractionation experiments, 30-kDa polypeptides were identified in the outer membrane; we speculated that these proteins are the ß-barrel portions of the autotransporter homologues. Furthermore, Pic-containing culture supernatants have serine protease activity. In reverse transcription-PCR analyses, the expression of the pic and tsh genes in E. coli CFT073 was higher in broth cultures grown at 37°C than at 25°C. Moreover, pic and tsh were expressed by bacteria isolated from urine of transurethrally infected mice. The tsh determinant was identified in 63% of our clinical UPEC strain isolates (n = 87) and in 33% of fecal strains (n = 27), whereas pic was present in 31% of the pyelonephritis (n = 67) and 7% of the fecal strains. There was no significant correlation between cystitis strains (n = 20) and the pic determinant.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 655 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore, Maryland 21201-1192. Phone: (410) 706-0466. Fax: (410) 706-6751. E-mail: hmobley{at}umaryland.edu.

Editor: A. D. O'Brien

Infection and Immunity, January 2004, p. 593-597, Vol. 72, No. 1
0019-9567/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.72.1.593-597.2004
Copyright © 2004, 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 © 2004 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.