A new O-antigen gene cluster has a key role in the virulence of the Escherichia coli meningitis clone O45:K1:H7.

ABSTRACT: A new highly pathogenic clone of Escherichia coli meningitis strains harboring the unusual serogroup O45 has recently emerged in France. To gain insight into the pathogenicity of this new clone, we investigated the possible role of antigen O45 in the virulence of strain S88 (O45:K1:H7), representative of this emerging clone. We first showed that the S88 O-antigen gene cluster sequence differs from that of O45 in the reference strain E. coli 96-3285, suggesting that the two O45 polysaccharides, while probably sharing a community of epitopes, represent two different antigens. The unique functional organization of the two O-antigen gene clusters and the low DNA sequence homology of the orthologous genes suggest that the two loci originated from a common ancestor and have since undergone multi

SUBMITTER: Plainvert C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2168960 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature