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Infection and Immunity, June 2000, p. 3780-3783, Vol. 68, No. 6
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Curli Loci of Shigella spp.

Harry Sakellaris,1 Nerissa K. Hannink,1 Kumar Rajakumar,1,2,* Dieter Bulach,1 Meredith Hunt,1 Chihiro Sasakawa,3 and Ben Adler1

Department of Microbiology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3800,1 and Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, 3052,2 Australia, and Department of Bacteriology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0071, Japan3

Received 15 October 1999/Returned for modification 15 November 1999/Accepted 3 March 2000

An unstable chromosomal element encoding multiple antibiotic resistance in Shigella flexneri serotype 2a was found to include sequences homologous to the csg genes encoding curli in Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. As curli have been implicated in the virulence of serovar Typhimurium, we investigated the csg loci in all four species of Shigella. DNA sequencing and PCR analysis showed that the csg loci of a wide range of Shigella strains, of diverse serotypes and different geographical distributions, were almost universally disrupted by deletions or insertions, indicating the existence of a strong selective pressure against the expression of curli. Strains of enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC), which share virulence traits with Shigella spp. and cause similar diseases in humans, also possessed insertions or deletions in the csg locus or were otherwise unable to produce curli. Since the production of curli is a widespread trait in environmental isolates of E. coli, our results suggest that genetic lesions that abolish curli production in the closely related genus Shigella and in EIEC are pathoadaptive mutations.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, Monash University, Victoria, 3800, Australia. Phone: 61 3 9344 2000. Fax: 61 3 9345 5764. E-mail: kumar.rajakumar{at}med.monash.edu.au.

Infection and Immunity, June 2000, p. 3780-3783, Vol. 68, No. 6
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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