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Infection and Immunity, December 2007, p. 5735-5739, Vol. 75, No. 12
0019-9567/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00740-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Novel Model To Study Virulence Determinants of Escherichia coli K1{triangledown}

Naveed Ahmed Khan* and Graham John Goldsworthy

Department of Biology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom

Received 1 June 2007/ Returned for modification 9 July 2007/ Accepted 5 September 2007

It is shown here for the first time that locusts can be used as a model to study Escherichia coli K1 pathogenesis. E. coli K-12 strain HB101 has very low pathogenicity to locusts and does not invade the locust brain, whereas the injection of 2 x 106 E. coli K1 strain RS218 (O18:K1:H7) kills almost 100% of locusts within 72 h and invades the brain within 24 h of injection. Both mortality and invasion of the brain in locusts after injection of E. coli K1 require at least two of the known virulence determinants shown for mammals. Thus, deletion mutants that lack outer membrane protein A or cytotoxic necrotizing factor 1 have reduced abilities to kill locusts and to invade the locust brain compared to the parent E. coli K1. Interestingly, deletion mutants lacking FimH or the NeuDB gene cluster are still able to cause high mortality. It is argued that the likely existence of additional virulence determinants can be investigated in vivo by using this insect system.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom. Phone: 44-(0)207-079-0797. Fax: 44-(0)207-631-6246. E-mail: n.khan{at}sbc.bbk.ac.uk

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 17 September 2007.

Editor: A. Camilli

Infection and Immunity, December 2007, p. 5735-5739, Vol. 75, No. 12
0019-9567/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00740-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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  • Hanaoka, N., Takano, Y., Shibuya, K., Fugo, H., Uehara, Y., Niimi, M. (2008). Identification of the Putative Protein Phosphatase Gene PTC1 as a Virulence-Related Gene Using a Silkworm Model of Candida albicans Infection. Eukaryot Cell 7: 1640-1648 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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