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Temporal regulation of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli virulence mediated by autoinducer-2

  • Genomics and Proteomics
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Abstract

The autoinducer-2 (AI-2) molecule is produced by many bacterial species, including various human gastrointestinal (GI) tract commensal bacteria, and has been proposed to be involved in interspecies communication. Because pathogens are likely to encounter AI-2 in the GI tract, we studied the effects of AI-2 on various phenotypes associated with enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) infections. AI-2 attracted EHEC in agarose plug chemotaxis assays and also increased swimming motility, as well as increased EHEC attachment to HeLa cells. The molecular basis underlying the stimulation of EHEC chemotaxis, motility, and colonization by AI-2 was investigated at the transcriptome level using DNA microarrays. We found that exposure to AI-2 altered the expression of 23 locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE) genes directly involved in the production of virulence determinants, as well as other genes associated with virulence (e.g., 46 flagellar/fimbrial genes, 24 iron-related genes), in a temporally defined manner. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report AI-2-mediated regulation of EHEC chemotaxis and colonization, as well as temporal regulation of EHEC transcriptome by AI-2. Our results suggest that AI-2 is an important signal in EHEC infections of the human GI tract.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by funds from the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (to A.J.) and the National Institutes of Health (EB003872-01) (to T.K.W.). We thank Dr. V. Sperandio for kindly providing the VS94 strain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 222 Jack E. Brown Engineering Building, 3122 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843-3122, USA

    Tarun Bansal, Thomas K. Wood & Arul Jayaraman

  2. Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Thomas K. Wood

  3. Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Thomas K. Wood

  4. Food Safety and Environmental Microbiology Program, Department of Poultry Science and Nutrition & Food Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Palmy Jesudhasan & Suresh Pillai

Authors
  1. Tarun Bansal
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  2. Palmy Jesudhasan
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  3. Suresh Pillai
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  4. Thomas K. Wood
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  5. Arul Jayaraman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arul Jayaraman.

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Supplemental Table 1

Summary of changes in VS94 gene expression in presence of AI-2. Relative changes less than 1 indicate the genes were repressed in presence of AI-2. Relative changes greater than 1 indicate genes were induced in presence of AI-2. (DOC 335 KB)

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Bansal, T., Jesudhasan, P., Pillai, S. et al. Temporal regulation of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli virulence mediated by autoinducer-2. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 78, 811–819 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-008-1359-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-008-1359-8

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