A role for the RNA chaperone Hfq in controlling adherent-invasive Escherichia coli colonization and virulence.

ABSTRACT: Adherent-invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC) has been linked with the onset and perpetuation of inflammatory bowel diseases. The AIEC strain LF82 was originally isolated from an ileal biopsy from a patient with Crohn's disease. The pathogenesis of LF82 results from its abnormal adherence to and subsequent invasion of the intestinal epithelium coupled with its ability to survive phagocytosis by macrophages once it has crossed the intestinal barrier. To gain further insight into AIEC pathogenesis we employed the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as an in vivo infection model. We demonstrate that AIEC strain LF82 forms a persistent infection in C. elegans, thereby reducing the host lifespan significantly. This host killing phenotype was associated with massive bacterial colonization of the nematod

SUBMITTER: Simonsen KT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3027648 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature