Prevalence, distribution and evolutionary significance of the IS629 insertion element in the stepwise emergence of Escherichia coli O157:H7.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Insertion elements (IS) are known to play an important role in the evolution and genomic diversification of Escherichia coli O157:H7 lineages. In particular, IS629 has been found in multiple copies in the E. coli O157:H7 genome and is one of the most prevalent IS in this serotype. It was recently shown that the lack of O157 antigen expression in two O rough E. coli O157:H7 strains was due to IS629 insertions at 2 different locations in the gne gene that is essential for the O antigen biosynthesis.

Results

The comparison of 4 E. coli O157:H7 genome and plasmid sequences showed numerous IS629 insertion sites, although not uniformly distributed among strains. Comparison of IS629s found in O157:H7 and O55:H7 showed the presence of at least three different IS629 sub-ty

SUBMITTER: Rump LV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3271280 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature