A new piece of the Shigella Pathogenicity puzzle: spermidine accumulation by silencing of the speG gene [corrected].

ABSTRACT: The genome of Shigella, a gram negative bacterium which is the causative agent of bacillary dysentery, shares strong homologies with that of its commensal ancestor, Escherichia coli. The acquisition, by lateral gene transfer, of a large plasmid carrying virulence determinants has been a crucial event in the evolution towards the pathogenic lifestyle and has been paralleled by the occurrence of mutations affecting genes, which negatively interfere with the expression of virulence factors. In this context, we have analysed to what extent the presence of the plasmid-encoded virF gene, the major activator of the Shigella regulon for invasive phenotype, has modified the transcriptional profile of E. coli. Combining results from transcriptome assays and comparative genome analyses we show that i

SUBMITTER: Barbagallo M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3213128 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature