scholarly journals S-Fimbria-Encoding Determinant sfaI Is Located on Pathogenicity Island III536 of UropathogenicEscherichia coli Strain 536

2001 ◽  
Vol 69 (7) ◽  
pp. 4248-4256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Dobrindt ◽  
Gabriele Blum-Oehler ◽  
Thomas Hartsch ◽  
Gerhard Gottschalk ◽  
Eliora Z. Ron ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The sfa I determinant encoding the S-fimbrial adhesin of uropathogenic Escherichia colistrains was found to be located on a pathogenicity island of uropathogenic E. coli strain 536. This pathogenicity island, designated PAI III536, is located at 5.6 min of theE. coli chromosome and covers a region of at least 37 kb between the tRNA locus thrW and yagU. As far as it has been determined, PAI III536 also contains genes which code for components of a putative enterochelin siderophore system of E. coli and Salmonella spp. as well as for colicin V immunity. Several intact or nonfunctional mobility genes of bacteriophages and insertion sequence elements such as transposases and integrases are present on PAI III536. The presence of known PAI III536 sequences has been investigated in several wild-type E. coli isolates. The results demonstrate that the determinants of the members of the S-family of fimbrial adhesins may be located on a common pathogenicity island which, in E. coli strain 536, replaces a 40-kb DNA region which represents anE. coli K-12-specific genomic island.

2004 ◽  
Vol 186 (16) ◽  
pp. 5432-5441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lubomir Grozdanov ◽  
Carsten Raasch ◽  
Jürgen Schulze ◽  
Ulrich Sonnenborn ◽  
Gerhard Gottschalk ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Nonpathogenic Escherichia coli strain Nissle 1917 (O6:K5:H1) is used as a probiotic agent in medicine, mainly for the treatment of various gastroenterological diseases. To gain insight on the genetic level into its properties of colonization and commensalism, this strain's genome structure has been analyzed by three approaches: (i) sequence context screening of tRNA genes as a potential indication of chromosomal integration of horizontally acquired DNA, (ii) sequence analysis of 280 kb of genomic islands (GEIs) coding for important fitness factors, and (iii) comparison of Nissle 1917 genome content with that of other E. coli strains by DNA-DNA hybridization. PCR-based screening of 324 nonpathogenic and pathogenic E. coli isolates of different origins revealed that some chromosomal regions are frequently detectable in nonpathogenic E. coli and also among extraintestinal and intestinal pathogenic strains. Many known fitness factor determinants of strain Nissle 1917 are localized on four GEIs which have been partially sequenced and analyzed. Comparison of these data with the available knowledge of the genome structure of E. coli K-12 strain MG1655 and of uropathogenic E. coli O6 strains CFT073 and 536 revealed structural similarities on the genomic level, especially between the E. coli O6 strains. The lack of defined virulence factors (i.e., alpha-hemolysin, P-fimbrial adhesins, and the semirough lipopolysaccharide phenotype) combined with the expression of fitness factors such as microcins, different iron uptake systems, adhesins, and proteases, which may support its survival and successful colonization of the human gut, most likely contributes to the probiotic character of E. coli strain Nissle 1917.


2006 ◽  
Vol 72 (6) ◽  
pp. 3814-3825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alain Bultreys ◽  
Isabelle Gheysen ◽  
Edmond de Hoffmann

ABSTRACT The siderophore and virulence factor yersiniabactin is produced by Pseudomonas syringae. Yersiniabactin was originally detected by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC); commonly used PCR tests proved ineffective. Yersiniabactin production in P. syringae correlated with the possession of irp1 located in a predicted yersiniabactin locus. Three similarly divergent yersiniabactin locus groups were determined: the Yersinia pestis group, the P. syringae group, and the Photorhabdus luminescens group; yersiniabactin locus organization is similar in P. syringae and P. luminescens. In P. syringae pv. tomato DC3000, the locus has a high GC content (63.4% compared with 58.4% for the chromosome and 60.1% and 60.7% for adjacent regions) but it lacks high-pathogenicity-island features, such as the insertion in a tRNA locus, the integrase, and insertion sequence elements. In P. syringae pv. tomato DC3000 and pv. phaseolicola 1448A, the locus lies between homologues of Psyr_2284 and Psyr_2285 of P. syringae pv. syringae B728a, which lacks the locus. Among tested pseudomonads, a PCR test specific to two yersiniabactin locus groups detected a locus in genospecies 3, 7, and 8 of P. syringae, and DNA hybridization within P. syringae also detected a locus in the pathovars phaseolicola and glycinea. The PCR and HPLC methods enabled analysis of nonpathogenic Escherichia coli. HPLC-proven yersiniabactin-producing E. coli lacked modifications found in irp1 and irp2 in the human pathogen CFT073, and it is not clear whether CFT073 produces yersiniabactin. The study provides clues about the evolution and dispersion of yersiniabactin genes. It describes methods to detect and study yersiniabactin producers, even where genes have evolved.


2004 ◽  
Vol 72 (10) ◽  
pp. 5993-6001 ◽  
Author(s):  
György Schneider ◽  
Ulrich Dobrindt ◽  
Holger Brüggemann ◽  
Gábor Nagy ◽  
Britta Janke ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The K15 capsule determinant of uropathogenic Escherichia coli strain 536 (O6:K15:H31) is part of a novel 79.6-kb pathogenicity island (PAI) designated PAI V536 that is absent from the genome of nonpathogenic E. coli K-12 strain MG1655. PAI V536 shows typical characteristics of a composite PAI that is associated with the pheV tRNA gene and contains the pix fimbriae determinant as well as genes coding for a putative phosphoglycerate transport system, an autotransporter protein, and hypothetical open reading frames. A gene cluster coding for a putative general secretion pathway system, together with a kps K15 determinant, is localized downstream of a truncated pheV gene (′pheV) also present in this chromosomal region. The distribution of genes present on PAI V536 was studied by PCR in different pathogenic and nonpathogenic E. coli isolates of various sources. Analysis of the 20-kb kps locus revealed a so far unknown genetic organization. Generally, the kps K15 gene cluster resembles that of group 2 and 3 capsules, where two conserved regions (regions 1 and 3) are located up- or downstream of a highly variable serotype-specific region (region 2). Interestingly, recombination of a group 2 and 3 determinant may have been involved in the evolution of the K15 capsule-encoding gene cluster. Expression of the K15 capsule is important for virulence in a murine model of ascending urinary tract infection but not for serum resistance of E. coli strain 536.


2006 ◽  
Vol 394 (3) ◽  
pp. 575-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergey V. Novoselov ◽  
Deame Hua ◽  
Alexey V. Lobanov ◽  
Vadim N. Gladyshev

Sec (selenocysteine) is a rare amino acid in proteins. It is co-translationally inserted into proteins at UGA codons with the help of SECIS (Sec insertion sequence) elements. A full set of selenoproteins within a genome, known as the selenoproteome, is highly variable in different organisms. However, most of the known eukaryotic selenoproteins are represented in the mammalian selenoproteome. In addition, many of these selenoproteins have cysteine orthologues. Here, we describe a new selenoprotein, designated Fep15, which is distantly related to members of the 15 kDa selenoprotein (Sep15) family. Fep15 is absent in mammals, can be detected only in fish and is present in these organisms only in the selenoprotein form. In contrast with other members of the Sep15 family, which contain a putative active site composed of Sec and cysteine, Fep15 has only Sec. When transiently expressed in mammalian cells, Fep15 incorporated Sec in an SECIS- and SBP2 (SECIS-binding protein 2)-dependent manner and was targeted to the endoplasmic reticulum by its N-terminal signal peptide. Phylogenetic analyses of Sep15 family members suggest that Fep15 evolved by gene duplication.


2002 ◽  
Vol 184 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Mavingui ◽  
Margarita Flores ◽  
Xianwu Guo ◽  
Guillermo Dávila ◽  
Xavier Perret ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Bacterial genomes are usually partitioned in several replicons, which are dynamic structures prone to mutation and genomic rearrangements, thus contributing to genome evolution. Nevertheless, much remains to be learned about the origins and dynamics of the formation of bacterial alternative genomic states and their possible biological consequences. To address these issues, we have studied the dynamics of the genome architecture in Rhizobium sp. strain NGR234 and analyzed its biological significance. NGR234 genome consists of three replicons: the symbiotic plasmid pNGR234a (536,165 bp), the megaplasmid pNGR234b (>2,000 kb), and the chromosome (>3,700 kb). Here we report that genome analyses of cell siblings showed the occurrence of large-scale DNA rearrangements consisting of cointegrations and excisions between the three replicons. As a result, four new genomic architectures have emerged. Three consisted of the cointegrates between two replicons: chromosome-pNGR234a, chromosome-pNGR234b, and pNGR234a-pNGR234b. The other consisted of a cointegrate of the three replicons (chromosome-pNGR234a-pNGR234b). Cointegration and excision of pNGR234a with either the chromosome or pNGR234b were studied and found to proceed via a Campbell-type mechanism, mediated by insertion sequence elements. We provide evidence showing that changes in the genome architecture did not alter the growth and symbiotic proficiency of Rhizobium derivatives.


2001 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 937-948 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lila Lalioui ◽  
Chantal Le Bouguénec

ABSTRACT We recently described a new afimbrial adhesin, AfaE-VIII, produced by animal strains associated with diarrhea and septicemia and by human isolates associated with extraintestinal infections. Here, we report that the afa-8 operon, encoding AfaE-VIII adhesin, from the human blood isolate Escherichia coli AL862 is carried by a 61-kb genomic region with characteristics typical of a pathogenicity island (PAI), including a size larger than 10 kb, the presence of an integrase-encoding gene, the insertion into a tRNA locus (pheR), and the presence of a small direct repeat at each extremity. Moreover, the G+C content of the afa-8 operon (46.4%) is lower than that of the E. coli K-12/MG1655 chromosome (50.8%). Within this PAI, designated PAI IAL862, we identified open reading frames able to code for products similar to proteins involved in sugar utilization. Four probes spanning these sequences hybridized with 74.3% of pathogenicafa-8-positive E. coli strains isolated from humans and animals, 25% of human pathogenic afa-8-negativeE. coli strains, and only 8% of fecal strains (P = 0.05), indicating that these sequences are strongly associated with the afa-8 operon and that this genetic association may define a PAI widely distributed among human and animal afa-8-positive strains. One of the distinctive features of this study is that E. coli AL862 also carries another afa-8-containing PAI (PAI IIAL862), which appeared to be similar in size and genetic organization to PAI IAL862 and was inserted into the pheV gene. We investigated the insertion sites of afa-8-containing PAI in human and bovine pathogenic E. coli strains and found that this PAI preferentially inserted into the pheV gene.


1961 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley G. Schultz ◽  
A. K. Solomon

Methods have been developed to study the intracellular Na and K concentrations in E. coli, strain K-12. These intracellular cation concentrations have been shown to be functions of the extracellular cation concentrations and the age of the bacterial culture. During the early logarithmic phase of growth, the intracellular K concentration greatly exceeds that of the external medium, whereas the intracellular Na concentration is lower than that of the growth medium. As the age of the culture increases, the intracellular K concentration falls and the intracellular Na concentration rises, changes which are related to the fall in the pH of the medium and to the accumulation of the products of bacterial metabolism. When stationary phase cells, which are rich in Na and poor in K, are resuspended in fresh growth medium, there is a rapid reaccumulation of K and extrusion of Na. These processes represent oppositely directed net ion movements against concentration gradients, and have been shown to be dependent upon the presence of an intact metabolic energy supply.


Microbiology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 158 (7) ◽  
pp. 1796-1807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masahiro Takeo ◽  
Yoshihiro Maeda ◽  
Junko Maeda ◽  
Naoki Nishiyama ◽  
Chitoshi Kitamura ◽  
...  

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