RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Identification of a family of intimins common to Escherichia coli causing attaching-effacing lesions in rabbits, humans, and swine.
JF Infection and Immunity
JO Infect. Immun.
FD American Society for Microbiology
SP 320
OP 326
VO 65
IS 1
A1 Agin, T S
A1 Wolf, M K
YR 1997
UL http://iai.asm.org/content/65/1/320.abstract
AB Intimin, an outer membrane protein encoded by eaeA that mediates close attachment of enteropathogenic bacteria to apical surfaces of epithelial cells, is required for formation of the attaching-effacing lesions and for full pathogenesis of the bacteria. Analysis of the eaeA sequence indicates that there is a high degree of homology at the N termini but less at the C termini of intimins. Antisera specific for the C-terminal third of RDEC-1 intimin, used to screen outer membrane proteins from 50 rabbit enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC), human EPEC, and human enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) strains, identified cross-reactive intimins from 24 isolates. Sequence analysis of the eaeA genes from human EPEC O111 and EHEC O26 isolates indicates that their intimins have C termini nearly identical to that of RDEC-1 intimin. Our results suggest that there are at least three families of related intimins and that the presence of intimin similar to that of RDEC-1 is not restricted by serogroup or host specificity.