Escherichia coli isolate for studying colonization of the mouse intestine and its application to two-component signaling knockouts.

ABSTRACT: The biology of Escherichia coli in its primary niche, the animal intestinal tract, is remarkably unexplored. Studies with the streptomycin-treated mouse model have produced important insights into the metabolic requirements for Escherichia coli to colonize mice. However, we still know relatively little about the physiology of this bacterium growing in the complex environment of an intestine that is permissive for the growth of competing flora. We have developed a system for studying colonization using an E. coli strain, MP1, isolated from a mouse. MP1 is genetically tractable and does not require continuous antibiotic treatment for stable colonization. As an application of this system, we separately knocked out each two-component system response regulator in MP1 and performed competitions

SUBMITTER: Lasaro M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3993324 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature