Project description:Escherichia coli O157 presents a number of specific problems in terms of food safety and public health. It has been found that E. coli O157 is more resistant to a number of the stresses encountered during food production such as heat, pH and osmotic shock. This greater resistance is thought to contribute to the low infectious dose of E. coli O157 (<100 organisms). Moreover, E. coli O157 is associated with debilitating conditions such as haemorrhagic colitis and haemoytic uraemic syndrome, particularly in children and the elderly. We have been studying the stress responses of E. coli O157:H7 (Sakai) and comparing with a commensal strain of E. coli K-12, MG1655. We found that E. coli O157 (Sakai) is more sensitive to oxidative stress than MG1655. A microarray study of these strains treated with sub-lethal concentrations (0.5mg/ml) of menadione revealed big differences in their responses. In E. coli O157 (Sakai), 540 genes responded significantly to the treatment compared to 121 genes in MG1655. One surprising finding from the microarray data was the observation that many iron-transport genes were up-regulated in E. coli O157 (Sakai) whereas relatively few were induced in MG1655 despite the fact that the bacteria were grown in a medium containing ample iron. We speculated that the induction of iron transport genes in an iron-rich medium might have contributed to the enhanced killing of E. coli O157 (Sakai) through triggering of a Fenton reaction. We speculated that the difference in sensitivity to oxidative stress might be due to differences in the intracellular iron content of E. coli O157 and MG1655. We found that E. coli O157 contains ~50% more iron than MG1655 and believe that during oxidative stress, this iron is released by damaged proteins. The greater levels of free iron in E. coli O157 will trigger a greater Fenton reaction that can damage the ferric uptake regulator (Fur), resulting in unregulated iron transport. In MG1655, the lower iron content results in a smaller Fenton reaction, enabling the cellular protection systems to limit damage and protect Fur.

Project description:Escherichia coli O157 presents a number of specific problems in terms of food safety and public health. It has been found that E. coli O157 is more resistant to a number of the stresses encountered during food production such as heat, pH and osmotic shock. This greater resistance is thought to contribute to the low infectious dose of E. coli O157 (<100 organisms). Moreover, E. coli O157 is associated with debilitating conditions such as haemorrhagic colitis and haemoytic uraemic syndrome, particularly in children and the elderly. We have been studying the stress responses of E. coli O157:H7 (Sakai) and comparing with a commensal strain of E. coli K-12, MG1655. We found that E. coli O157 (Sakai) is more sensitive to oxidative stress than MG1655. A microarray study of these strains treated with sub-lethal concentrations (0.5mg/ml) of menadione revealed big differences in their responses. In E. coli O157 (Sakai), 540 genes responded significantly to the treatment compared to 121 genes in MG1655. One surprising finding from the microarray data was the observation that many iron-transport genes were up-regulated in E. coli O157 (Sakai) whereas relatively few were induced in MG1655 despite the fact that the bacteria were grown in a medium containing ample iron. We speculated that the induction of iron transport genes in an iron-rich medium might have contributed to the enhanced killing of E. coli O157 (Sakai) through triggering of a Fenton reaction. We speculated that the difference in sensitivity to oxidative stress might be due to differences in the intracellular iron content of E. coli O157 and MG1655. We found that E. coli O157 contains ~50% more iron than MG1655 and believe that during oxidative stress, this iron is released by damaged proteins. The greater levels of free iron in E. coli O157 will trigger a greater Fenton reaction that can damage the ferric uptake regulator (Fur), resulting in unregulated iron transport. In MG1655, the lower iron content results in a smaller Fenton reaction, enabling the cellular protection systems to limit damage and protect Fur. Overnight cultures of E. coli O157 (Sakai) and E. coli K-12 MG1655 were grown in Neidhardt's EZ Rich Defined Medium and diluted 1:100 in 50 ml fresh medium in 125 ml Ehrlenmeyer flasks. The cultures were shaken at 37C until the optical density (OD600) reached 0.4. Each culture was divided into 2 equal parts in identical flasks. One flask contained menadione bisulphite to a final concentration of 0.5 mg/ml; the other flask contained an equivalent volume of distilled water. The flasks were shaken for a further 10 mins and then treated with RNAprotect™ to stabilise the mRNA. The experiment was performed 3 times on different days. Six custom-made microarray slides were used in this study; each slide was hybridised with labelled cDNA made from mRNA taken from untreated and treated E. coli O157 (Sakai) or MG1655.

Project description:Leafy green vegetables, such as lettuce, have been increasingly implicated in outbreaks of foodborne illnesses due to contamination by Escherichia coli O157:H7. While E. coli can survive in soils, colonize plants, and survive on produce, very little is known about the interaction of E. coli with the roots of growing lettuce plants. In these studies, a combination of microarray analyses and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) were used to gain a comprehensive understanding of bacterial genes involved in the colonization and growth of E. coli O157:H7 on lettuce roots and compared to E. coli K12 using a hydroponic system (HS) which we have reported in the previous studies. Using microarray, after three days of interaction with lettuce roots, 94 and 109 genes of E. coli O157:H7 were significantly up-regulated and down-regulated at least 1.5 fold, respectively. Only 8 genes were also found in the E. coli K12 up-regulated genes. No genes were found in the down-regulated genes clusters between those two strains. For E. coli O157:H7, forty out of the 94 up-regulated genes (43%) were involved in protein synthesis and were highly repressed compared to 40 out of 193 (23%) E. coli K12 up-regulated genes associated with protein synthesis. The wildtype of E.coli O157:H7 colonized two log CFU per root less compared to E. coli K12. Genes involved in biofilm modulation (bhsA and ybiM) were significantly up-regulated in E. coli O157:H7 and curli production (crl and csgA) were found important for E. coli K12 to attach to lettuce roots in the previous studies. BhsA mutant of E. coli O157:H7 was impaired in the colonization of lettuce roots. The SERS spectra of E. coli K12 and O157 controls (cells without interacting with roots) were very similar. The spectra of E. coli K12 and O157 exposed to the hydroponic system (HS) showed some differences in the nucleic acid, protein, and lipid regions compared with controls. The spectra of E. coli K12 HS cells exhibited significant differences compared to spectra from E. coli O157 HS cells in the RNA and protein regions. The overall band intensity of amide regions declined for E. coli O157 HS cells, while it increased for E. coli K12 HS cells. The intensity of the RNA bands of E. coli K12 HS cells were also found much higher than those of E. coli O157 HS cells. These findings were in agreement to our Microarray data. Our microarray and SERS data showed that E. coli K12 and O157:H7 behavior dramatically differently in colonizing on lettuce roots. Compared to K12, E. coli O157:H7 colonized less efficiently on lettuce roots.

Project description:Leafy green vegetables, such as lettuce, have been increasingly implicated in outbreaks of foodborne illnesses due to contamination by Escherichia coli O157:H7. While E. coli can survive in soils, colonize plants, and survive on produce, very little is known about the interaction of E. coli with the roots of growing lettuce plants. In these studies, a combination of microarray analyses and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) were used to gain a comprehensive understanding of bacterial genes involved in the colonization and growth of E. coli O157:H7 on lettuce roots and compared to E. coli K12 using a hydroponic system (HS) which we have reported in the previous studies. Using microarray, after three days of interaction with lettuce roots, 94 and 109 genes of E. coli O157:H7 were significantly up-regulated and down-regulated at least 1.5 fold, respectively. Only 8 genes were also found in the E. coli K12 up-regulated genes. No genes were found in the down-regulated genes clusters between those two strains. For E. coli O157:H7, forty out of the 94 up-regulated genes (43%) were involved in protein synthesis and were highly repressed compared to 40 out of 193 (23%) E. coli K12 up-regulated genes associated with protein synthesis. The wildtype of E.coli O157:H7 colonized two log CFU per root less compared to E. coli K12. Genes involved in biofilm modulation (bhsA and ybiM) were significantly up-regulated in E. coli O157:H7 and curli production (crl and csgA) were found important for E. coli K12 to attach to lettuce roots in the previous studies. BhsA mutant of E. coli O157:H7 was impaired in the colonization of lettuce roots. The SERS spectra of E. coli K12 and O157 controls (cells without interacting with roots) were very similar. The spectra of E. coli K12 and O157 exposed to the hydroponic system (HS) showed some differences in the nucleic acid, protein, and lipid regions compared with controls. The spectra of E. coli K12 HS cells exhibited significant differences compared to spectra from E. coli O157 HS cells in the RNA and protein regions. The overall band intensity of amide regions declined for E. coli O157 HS cells, while it increased for E. coli K12 HS cells. The intensity of the RNA bands of E. coli K12 HS cells were also found much higher than those of E. coli O157 HS cells. These findings were in agreement to our Microarray data. Our microarray and SERS data showed that E. coli K12 and O157:H7 behavior dramatically differently in colonizing on lettuce roots. Compared to K12, E. coli O157:H7 colonized less efficiently on lettuce roots. Escherichia coli O157:H7 strains were grown in the lettuce rhizosphere for three days. Transcriptional profiling of E. coli was compared between cells grown with and without rhizosphere . Three biological replicates of each treatment were prepared, and six microarray slides were used.

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