Pet, an autotransporter enterotoxin from enteroaggregative Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) is an emerging cause of diarrheal illness. Clinical data suggest that diarrhea caused by EAEC is predominantly secretory in nature, but the responsible enterotoxin has not been described. Work from our laboratories has implicated a ca. 108-kDa protein as a heat-labile enterotoxin and cytotoxin, as evidenced by rises in short-circuit current and falls in tissue resistance in rat jejunal tissue mounted in an Ussing chamber. Here we report the genetic cloning, sequencing, and characterization of this high-molecular-weight heat-labile toxin. The toxin (designated the plasmid-encoded toxin [Pet]) is encoded on the 65-MDa adherence-related plasmid of EAEC strain 042. Nucleotide sequence analysis suggests that the toxin is a member of the autotransporter

SUBMITTER: Eslava C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC108327 | biostudies-literature | 1998 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature