Project description:The human intestinal microbiota associated with rats produces in vivo a soluble(s) factor(s) that down-regulates the expression of genes encoding for the Shiga toxin II in E. coli O157:H7. The Shiga toxin II is one of the major virulence factors of E. coli enterohemorragic leading to the deadly hemolitic and uremic syndrome. Investigation of the effect of the human intestinal microbiota on the whole transcriptome of EHEC O157:H7 is of major importance to increase our understanding of the pathogen transcriptomic adaptation in response to the human microbiota. We analysed by microarray hybridization the gene expression pattern of EHEC O157:H7 grown in the caecal content of germ-free rats or rats associated with the human microbiota of a healthy human subject. By doing so, we increased our understanding of the regulatory activities of the human gut microbiota on E. coli O157:H7
Project description:Background: Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157 causes severe food-bone illness in humans. The chromosome of O157 consists of 4.1-Mb backbone sequences shared by benign E. coli K-12, and 1.4-Mb O157-specific sequences encoding many virulence determinants such as Shiga toxin genes (stxs) and the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE). Non-O157 EHECs belonging to clonal lineages distinct from O157 also cause similar illness in humans. According to the parallel evolution model, they have independently acquired the major virulence determinants, stxs and LEE. However, the genomic differences between O157 and non-O157 EHECs have not yet systematically been analyzed. Results: By using the microarray and Whole Genome PCR scanning analyses, we performed a whole genome comparison of 20 EHEC strains of O26, O111, and O103 serotypes with O157. In non-O157 EHEC strains, although genome sizes were similar with or rather larger than O157 and the backbone regions were well conserved, O157-specific regions were very poorly conserved. Only around 20% of the O157-specific genes were fully conserved in each non-O157 serotype. However, the non-O157 EHECs contained a significant number of virulence genes found on prophages and plasmids in O157, and also multiple prophages similar but significantly divergent from those in O157. Conclusion: Although O157 and non-O157 EHECs have independently acquired a huge amount of serotype- or strain-specific genes by lateral gene transfer, they share an unexpectedly large number of virulence genes. Independent infections of similar but distinct bacteriophages carrying these virulence determinants appear to be involved in the parallel evolution of EHEC. Keywords: comparative genomic hybridization, CGH
Project description:The existence of two separate lineages of Escherichia coli O157:H7 has previously been reported, and research indicates that one of these lineages (lineage I) might be more pathogenic towards human hosts. We have previously shown that the more pathogenic lineage expresses higher levels of Shiga toxin 2 (Stx2) than the non-pathogenic lineage II. To evaluate why lineage 2 isolates do not express appreciable levels of toxin, two lineage 2 isolates (FRIK966 and FRIK2000) were chosen as representatives of lineage 2 and whole genome microarrays were performed using Agilent microarrays using the E. coli O157:H7 EDL933 lineage I clinical type isolate as a reference. Microarray results were utilized to evaluate what genes and pathways might be missing or differentially expressed. Quantitative RT-PCR was utilized to validate the microarray data.
Project description:Transcriptomes of 24 clinical strains of E. coli O157:H7 that differ phylogenetically and by Shiga toxin profiles were compared after 30 min co-incubation with epithelial cells.