Short-tailed stx phages exploit the conserved YaeT protein to disseminate Shiga toxin genes among enterobacteria.

ABSTRACT: Infection of Escherichia coli by Shiga toxin-encoding bacteriophages (Stx phages) was the pivotal event in the evolution of the deadly Shiga toxin-encoding E. coli (STEC), of which serotype O157:H7 is the most notorious. The number of different bacterial species and strains reported to produce Shiga toxin is now more than 500, since the first reported STEC infection outbreak in 1982. Clearly, Stx phages are spreading rapidly, but the underlying mechanism for this dissemination has not been explained. Here we show that an essential and highly conserved gene product, YaeT, which has an essential role in the insertion of proteins in the gram-negative bacterial outer membrane, is the surface molecule recognized by the majority (ca. 70%) of Stx phages via conserved tail spike proteins associate

SUBMITTER: Smith DL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2168440 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature