Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) disease depends on the transfer of effector proteins into epithelia lining the human small intestine. EPEC E2348/69 has at least 20 effector genes of which six are located with the effector-delivery system genes on the Locus of Enterocyte Effacement (LEE) Pathogenicity Island. Our previous work implied that non-LEE-encoded (Nle) effectors possess functio...

Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) interacts with intestinal epithelial cells, causing diarrhea and associated diseases. This pathogen binds to epithelial cells using sophisticated mechanisms that exploit existing epithelial signal transduction pathways and host cytoskeletal components, ultimately resulting in the bacterium resting upon a pedestal on host cell surfaces. Recent data indicates that ...

BACKGROUND Typical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (tEPEC) strains were associated with mortality in the Global Enteric Multicenter Study (GEMS). Genetic differences in tEPEC strains could underlie some of the variability in clinical outcome. METHODS We produced draft genome sequences of all available tEPEC strains from GEMS lethal infections (LIs) and of closely matched EPEC strains from G...

Cytolethal distending toxins (CDTs) represent an emerging family of newly described bacterial products that are produced by a number of pathogens. The genes encoding these toxins have been identified as a cluster of three adjacent genes, cdtA, cdtB, and cdtC, plus 5 cdt genetic variants, designated as cdt-I, cdt-II, cdt-III, cdt-IV, and cdt- V, have been identified to date. In this study, a gen...

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 associat...

Fifty-eight enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O26:H11 or O26:NM (nonmotile) strains and 44 atypical enteropathogenic E. coli O26:H11 or O26:NM strains isolated from patients in 11 countries during 52 years share a common pool of non-stx virulence genes, fitness loci, and genotypic and phenotypic diagnostic markers. These findings indicate close relatedness between these pathotypes and provide ...

Charles Darkoh1,2 and Herbert L. DuPont1,2,3,4,5 1Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Molecular Pathology Program, The University of Texas; 2The University of Texas School of Public Health, Center for Infectious Diseases; 3Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas Medical School; 4Internal Medicine Service, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital; and 5Department of Medicine, Baylor Co...

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) secretes several Esp proteins via the type III secretion system (secreton). EspA, EspB, and EspD are required for translocation of the effector proteins into host cells, in which EspB and EspD are thought to form a pore in the host membrane. Recent study has shown that EspA forms a filamentous structure that assembles as a physical bridge between bacteri...

Citrobacter rodentium infection is a mouse model for the important human diarrheal infection caused by enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC). The pathogenesis of both species is very similar and depends on their unique ability to form intimately epithelium-adherent microcolonies, also known as "attachment/effacement" (A/E) lesions. These microcolonies must be dynamic and able to self-renew by continu...

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) causes severe diarrhea in young children. Essential for colonization of the host intestine is the LEE pathogenicity island, which comprises a cluster of operons encoding a type III secretion system and related proteins. The LEE1 operon encodes Ler, which positively regulates many EPEC virulence genes in the LEE region and elsewhere in the chromosome. We ...