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Infection and Immunity, November 2004, p. 6722-6728, Vol. 72, No. 11
0019-9567/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.72.11.6722-6728.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Comparative Analysis of Locus of Enterocyte Effacement Pathogenicity Islands of Atypical Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli

Julia F. Gärtner and M. Alexander Schmidt^*

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

The pathogenicity of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) is linked to the locus of enterocyte effacement, or LEE, encoding a type III secretion system (T3SS) that directly transfers bacterial effector proteins into eukaryotic cells. Atypical diffusely adhering EPEC (DA-EPEC) strains that harbor homologues of the LEE but lack the EPEC adherence factor plasmid have been increasingly associated with outbreaks of diarrhea. In this study, we have completely sequenced and functionally characterized LEE pathogenicity islands derived from the clinical DA-EPEC isolates 3431 (O8:H^–) and 0181 (O119:H9:K61). LEE₃₄₃₁ and LEE₀₁₈₁ exhibit genetic organization analogous to that of the prototype LEE_E2348/69. Genes constituting the T3SS apparatus are highly conserved. However, LEE-encoded effector proteins exhibit major differences. Transfer and functional expression of LEE₀₁₈₁ in an E. coli XL1 blue MR background demonstrated that LEE₀₁₈₁ contains all the information for signal transduction and pedestal formation.

Editor: J. B. Bliska

Present address: Division of Infectious Diseases, University of California—San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-0654.

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