Genomic instability in regions adjacent to a highly conserved pch prophage in Escherichia coli O157:H7 generates diversity in expression patterns of the LEE pathogenicity island.

ABSTRACT: The LEE pathogenicity island has been acquired on multiple occasions within the different lineages of enteropathogenic and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli. In each lineage, LEE expression is regulated by complex networks of pathways, including core pathways shared by all lineages and lineage-specific pathways. Within the O157:H7 lineage of enterohemorrhagic E. coli, strain-to-strain variation in LEE expression has been observed, implying that expression patterns can diversify even within highly related subpopulations. Using comparative genomics of E. coli O157:H7 subpopulations, we have identified one source of strain-level variation affecting LEE expression. The variation occurs in prophage-dense regions of the genome that lie immediately adjacent to the late regions of the pch prophag

SUBMITTER: Yang Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2681921 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature