Virulence meets metabolism: Cra and KdpE gene regulation in enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: Gastrointestinal (GI) bacteria sense diverse environmental signals as cues for differential gene regulation and niche adaptation. Pathogens such as enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), which causes bloody diarrhea, use these signals for the temporal and energy-efficient regulation of their virulence factors. One of the main virulence strategies employed by EHEC is the formation of attaching and effacing (AE) lesions on enterocytes. Most of the genes necessary for the formation of these lesions are grouped within a pathogenicity island, the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE), whose expression requires the LEE-encoded regulator Ler. Here we show that growth of EHEC in glycolytic environments inhibits the expression of ler and consequently all other LEE genes. Conversely, growth withi

SUBMITTER: Njoroge JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3482499 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature