
Institut für Infektiologie, Zentrum für Molekularbiologie der Entzündung (ZMBE), Universitätsklinikum Münster, Universität Münster, Münster, Germany
Received 30 April 2004/ Returned for modification 1 June 2004/ Accepted 23 July 2004
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In recent years, atypical EPEC strains that harbor homologues of the LEE but lack the EAF plasmid and thus BFP as well as the regulator Per (plasmid-encoded regulator) have been identified (3, 19, 29). Due to the lack of BFP, these strains exhibit a diffuse adherence pattern and therefore have been described as diffusely adhering EPEC (DA-EPEC) (3). As epidemiological studies show that these DA-EPEC strains are increasingly associated with outbreaks of diarrhea (5, 15, 30), they have been recognized as emerging human and animal pathogens (6, 7, 25, 29). Nonetheless, LEE pathogenicity islands derived from the emerging DA-EPEC strains have not been investigated yet. In this study, we have characterized and comparatively analyzed the LEEs derived from the clinical DA-EPEC strains 3431 (O8:H) and 0181 (O119:H9:K61) (courtesy of L. R. Trabulsi, Saõ Paulo, Brazil).
(This study was conducted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Ph.D. from the University of Münster, Münster, Germany, to J. F. Gärtner.)
To characterize and compare the LEEs, cosmid libraries of the DA-EPEC strains 0181 and 3431 employing the SuperCos1 cosmid vector (Stratagene) were generated. LEE-harboring cosmid clones were identified by colony hybridization. Cosmid clones used for sequencing encompassed the LEEs of the two DA-EPEC strains as depicted in Fig. 1. In addition, the sequence between the eae and espD genes of LEE3431 was obtained using a 3-kb PCR fragment generated with the primer pair JG31-JG32 (Fig. 1; Table 1). The 3' sequence of LEE3431 from the espD gene to the 3' end had been determined previously (3).
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LEE0181 is inserted into the selC tRNA gene of the E. coli K-12 genome (Fig. 2), as has been reported for LEEE2348/69 and the LEE of the EHEC strain EDL933 as well as those of several EPEC 1 and EHEC 1 serovars (12, 20). The 5'- and 3'-flanking regions of LEE0181 are identical to the flanking regions of LEEE2348/69. The 5'-flanking region of about 700 bp begins in the yicK gene of the E. coli K-12 genome, which as a result of the integration is largely truncated (250 instead of 1,185 bp). The 3'-flanking region of about 790 bp is followed by an insertion element, which is identical to the IS600 flanking the 3' end of LEEE2348/69, as well as by the selC tRNA gene of the E. coli K-12 genome (12).
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Sequence characteristic of the cloned LEE. The nucleotide sequence of the LEE of the DA-EPEC strain 0181 (35,624 bp) covers the core region of the LEE, defined as the region encompassing the first (rorf1) and the last (espF) genes of the LEE as well as 675 and 797 bp of flanking sequences at the 5' and 3' ends. The nucleotide sequence of the LEE of the DA-EPEC strain 3431 (38,235 bp) contains the core region of the LEE as well as 777 and 1,904 bp of noncoding sequences at the 5'- and 3'-flanking regions, respectively.
LEE pathogenicity islands are highly conserved in terms of size and organization of genes. Each LEE harbors 41 open reading frames (ORFs) organized into five polycistronic operons (LEE1, LEE2, LEE3, LEE5, and LEE4) that exhibit identical orders and orientations. It is noteworthy that all of the identified ORFs in LEE0181 and LEE3431 correspond to genes located on the LEEs of the prototype EPEC strain E2348/69, the EHEC strain EDL933, Citrobacter rodentium, and the RDEC-1 strain, indicating that these LEEs may have descended from a common ancestor. The increased size of LEE3431 (35,478 bp) compared to LEEE2348/69 (34,066 bp) is due to the insertion of a 1,431-bp Tn5 transposon into the ler gene. The functional significance of the ler-mediated regulation is currently under examination in our laboratory. With 34,228 bp, LEE0181 is only slightly (162 bp) larger than LEEE2348/69. Comparisons of sequences of specific operons indicated a closer relationship of LEE0181 with LEEE2348/69 than with LEE3431 (Table 2).
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In contrast, the SepZ protein turned out to be almost hypervariable among T3SS proteins and to represent one of the most divergent proteins of the LEE (Table 2) (10, 12, 31). Interestingly, the SepZ proteins of the DA-EPEC strain 0181 and the EPEC strain E2348/69 are almost identical (96.9% identity). In contrast, the SepZ proteins of the DA-EPEC strain 3431 and the EPEC strain E2348/69 as well as that of the DA-EPEC strain 0181 exhibit very low identity of only 59.2%. These differences point to a possible role for SepZ in the specificity of the T3SS.
LEE-encoded effector proteins. In contrast to the proteins involved in the T3SS, the LEE-encoded secreted effector proteins exhibit differences which are larger than would have been expected for clonal divergence among E. coli strains (Table 2) (12, 31). These variations may reflect greater evolutionary pressure on the secreted effector proteins both from the host immune system and from differences among hosts. We found a considerably large variance among the Esp's (E. coli secreted proteins), namely, EspA, EspB, EspD, and EspF (Table 2).
The sequence analysis of the EspA proteins of the two DA-EPEC strains as well as that of the EPEC prototype strain E2348/69 revealed identities of 73.7 to 81.4% (Table 2). EspB together with EspD forms a translocation pore in the target cell membrane and has been described as a cytosolic effector protein tampering with cellular signaling processes (17, 28). The LEE3431-encoded EspB is 14 amino acids (aa) shorter (307 aa) than the E2348/69 counterpart and shares only 61.9% identity with that counterpart. In contrast, EspB0181 is completely identical to EspBE2348/69. EspD3431 is the same size as and shares 75.8% identity with EspDE2348/69, whereas EspD0181 is 1 aa shorter than EspD2348/69 and shares 85.5% identity with that protein. These findings reflect a relatively close relationship of LEE0181 with LEE2348/69 that is also corroborated by the shared inability of the Esp's of E2348/69 and 0181 to induce hemolysis. In contrast, the Esp proteins of the DA-EPEC strain 3431 are sufficient for erythrocyte lysis (17).
The impairment of gastrointestinal barrier functions is regarded as an important step in EPEC pathogenesis. In this process, the T3SS-secreted effector protein EspF has been suggested to play a major role (22). EspF exhibits differences in amino acid sequences and also in protein sizes in different A/E pathogens. EspF contains 301 aa residues in Citrobacter rodentium, 248 aa in the EHEC strain EDL933, 206 aa in the EPEC strain E2348/69, 204 aa in the DA-EPEC strain 0181, 207 aa in the DA-EPEC strain 3431, and only 160 aa in the RDEC-1 strain (10, 12, 31). These size differences in EspF are largely due to the number of proline-rich repeats, and it has been speculated that these repeats may be involved in host specificity (10) (Fig. 3). While RDEC-1 has two repeats, the EPEC and DA-EPEC strains have three, the EHEC strain EDL933 carries four, and Citrobacter rodentium harbors five repeats. The EspF0181 protein is again more closely related to EspFE2348/69 (85.8% identity) than to the EspF protein from DA-EPEC strain 3431 (73% identity) (Fig. 3).
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to intimin
) have been identified. The comparison of the intimin sequences of the DA-EPEC strains showed that the intimin of the DA-EPEC strain 3431 is 99.8% identical to intimin
2 and that the intimin of strain 0181 is identical to intimin
2. The intimin of the EPEC prototype strain E2348/69 shows an identity of 94.4% to intimin
2. Based on the intimin sequences, the relationship among the intimins derived from the DA-EPEC strains and the prototype EPEC strain E2348/69 can be displayed as a phylogenetic tree (Fig. 4) that again reflects the relatively close relationship of LEE0181 to LEEE2348/69.
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Functional analysis of the cloned LEE0181. The recombinant E. coli JG-LEE0181/XL1 blue MR strain harboring the complete LEE0181 adhered to host cells and, furthermore, induced the formation of pedestal-like structures underneath adherent bacteria in HeLa cells (Fig. 5). In addition, the recombinant strain secreted EspB and induced a fluorescence actin staining-positive reaction as well as the accumulation of tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins (presumably Tir) at the site of infection (data not shown). These results indicate that the LEE of DA-EPEC also encodes all information necessary for bacterial adherence to the host cell and the activation of signal transduction pathways leading to A/E lesions and pedestal formation.
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Nucleotide sequence accession numbers. Sequences of the LEEs of DA-EPEC strains 0181 and 3431 have been deposited in GenBank under accession numbers AJ633129 and AJ633130, respectively.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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This study was supported by grants from the BMBF Project Network of Competence Pathogenomics Alliance [Functional Genomic Research on Enterohaemorrhagic, Enteropathogenic and Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EHEC, EPEC, EAEC)], project group Karch/Schmidt, Universitätsklinikum Münster (BD 119523/207800), and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG: SFB 293/TPB5) and by a personal grant from the VolkswagenStiftung (I 79/078 to M.A.S.).
| FOOTNOTES |
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Present address: Division of Infectious Diseases, University of CaliforniaSan Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-0654. ![]()
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