Plant-adapted Escherichia coli show increased lettuce colonizing ability, resistance to oxidative stress and chemotactic response.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Escherichia coli is a widespread gut commensal and often a versatile pathogen of public health concern. E. coli are also frequently found in different environments and/or alternative secondary hosts, such as plant tissues. The lifestyle of E. coli in plants is poorly understood and has potential implications for food safety.

Methods/principal findings

This work shows that a human commensal strain of E. coli K12 readily colonizes lettuce seedlings and produces large microcolony-like cell aggregates in leaves, especially in young leaves, in proximity to the vascular tissue. Our observations strongly suggest that those cell aggregates arise from multiplication of single bacterial cells that reach those spots. We showed that E. coli isolated from colonized leaves prog

SUBMITTER: Dublan Mde L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4196987 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature