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Infection and Immunity, May 2009, p. 2104-2112, Vol. 77, No. 5
0019-9567/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.01200-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Conditioning of Uropathogenic Escherichia coli for Enhanced Colonization of Host{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Jean M. Bower, Hannah B. Gordon-Raagas, and Matthew A. Mulvey*

Division of Cell Biology and Immunology, Department of Pathology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112

Received 26 September 2008/ Returned for modification 21 November 2008/ Accepted 24 February 2009

While in transit within and between hosts, uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) encounters multiple stresses, including substantial levels of nitric oxide and reactive nitrogen intermediates. Here we show that UPEC, the primary cause of urinary tract infections, can be conditioned to grow at higher rates in the presence of acidified sodium nitrite (ASN), a model system used to generate nitrosative stress. When inoculated into the bladder of a mouse, ASN-conditioned UPEC bacteria are far more likely to establish an infection than nonconditioned bacteria. Microarray analysis of ASN-conditioned bacteria suggests that several NsrR-regulated genes and other stress- and polyamine-responsive factors may be partially responsible for this effect. Compared to K-12 reference strains, most UPEC isolates have increased resistance to ASN, and this resistance can be substantially enhanced by addition of the polyamine cadaverine. Nitrosative stress, as generated by ASN, can stimulate cadaverine synthesis by UPEC, and growth of UPEC in cadaverine-supplemented broth in the absence of ASN can also promote UPEC colonization of the bladder. These results suggest that UPEC interactions with polyamines or stresses such as reactive nitrogen intermediates can in effect reprogram the bacteria, enabling them to better colonize the host.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Pathology Department, Division of Cell Biology and Immunology, University of Utah, 15 North Medical Drive East, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0565. Phone: (801) 581-5967. Fax: (801) 581-4517. E-mail: mulvey{at}path.utah.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 2 March 2009.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://iai.asm.org/.

Editor: B. A. McCormick

Infection and Immunity, May 2009, p. 2104-2112, Vol. 77, No. 5
0019-9567/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.01200-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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