Loss of an Intimin-Like Protein Encoded on a Uropathogenic E. coli Pathogenicity Island Reduces Inflammation and Affects Interactions with the Urothelium.

ABSTRACT: Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) causes the majority of uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTI), which affect nearly half of women worldwide. Many UPEC strains carry an annotated intimin-like adhesin (ila) locus in their genome related to a well-characterized virulence factor in diarrheagenic E. coli pathotypes. Its role in UPEC uropathogenesis, however, remains unknown. In prototype UPEC strain CFT073, there is an ila locus that contains three predicted intimin-like genes, sinH, sinI, and ratA. We used in silico approaches to determine the phylogeny and genomic distribution of this locus among uropathogens. We found that the currently annotated intimin locus-encoded proteins in CFT073 are more closely related to invasin proteins found in

SUBMITTER: Shea AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8853676 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature