Project description:Typical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) O55:H7 is regarded as the closest relative of enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) O157:H7. Both serotypes usually express the γ1 intimin subclass and trigger actin polymerazation by the Tir-TccP pathway. However, atypical O55:H7 strains capable of triggering actin polymerization via the Tir-Nck pathway have recently been identified. In this study, we investigated the genotypic differences and phylogenetic relationships between typical and atypical O55:H7 strains. We show that the atypical O55:H7 strains, which express the θ intimin subclass and lack both tccP and tccP2, belong to an E. coli lineage distinct from the typical O55:H7 and from the EPEC O55:H6, which also uses the Tir-Nck actin polymerization pathway. We conducted genomic comparisons of the chromosomal regions covering the O-antigen gene cluster and its flanking regions between the three O55 lineages by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of PCR products and DNA sequencing analysis of about 65-kb chromosomal regions. This unexpectedly revealed that horizontal transfer of large fragments (≥ 40 kb) encoding the O55-antigen gene cluster and part of neighboring colanic acid gene cluster is involved in the emergence of the three O55 E. coli lineages. The data provide new insights into the mechanisms involved in the generation of a wide variety of O-serotypes in Gram-negative bacteria. Keywords: comparative genomic hybridization
Project description:Typical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) O55:H7 is regarded as the closest relative of enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) O157:H7. Both serotypes usually express the γ1 intimin subclass and trigger actin polymerazation by the Tir-TccP pathway. However, atypical O55:H7 strains capable of triggering actin polymerization via the Tir-Nck pathway have recently been identified. In this study, we investigated the genotypic differences and phylogenetic relationships between typical and atypical O55:H7 strains. We show that the atypical O55:H7 strains, which express the θ intimin subclass and lack both tccP and tccP2, belong to an E. coli lineage distinct from the typical O55:H7 and from the EPEC O55:H6, which also uses the Tir-Nck actin polymerization pathway. We conducted genomic comparisons of the chromosomal regions covering the O-antigen gene cluster and its flanking regions between the three O55 lineages by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of PCR products and DNA sequencing analysis of about 65-kb chromosomal regions. This unexpectedly revealed that horizontal transfer of large fragments (⥠40 kb) encoding the O55-antigen gene cluster and part of neighboring colanic acid gene cluster is involved in the emergence of the three O55 E. coli lineages. The data provide new insights into the mechanisms involved in the generation of a wide variety of O-serotypes in Gram-negative bacteria. Keywords: comparative genomic hybridization Total 8 test samples were analyzed. Genomic DNA from each test strain and a reference strain (O157 Sakai) were labeled with Cy3 and Cy5, respectively, and were cohybridized on a single array. Labeling and hybridization were performed twice independently.
Project description:Transcript abundance in Escherichia coli O157:H7 was determined in the presence or absence of pulsed expression of the small RNA, AsxR. AsxR was cloned under the control the arabinose inducible promoter Para. Escherichia coli O157:H7 str. TUV93-0 with pAsxR or empty vector was cultured in MEM-HEPES media to an OD600 of 0.8 and 0.2% arabinose added. 10min after addition of arabinose 10ml of cells were harvested and and pellets resuspended in 1ml of Trizol and total RNA isolated. RNAs were labelled using the SuperScript Plus indirect cDNA labelling System. Triplicate control RNAs were pooled and hybridised to seperate AsxR test RNAs on three microarays. Arrays were hybridised using the Maui hybridisation platform and Scann using and Axon Autoloader Scanner. GenePix software was used to analyse images and GPR files were analysed using Genespring 7.3.1.
Project description:Six isolates of PT21/28 and six of PT32 were analysed by CGH using UBECarray3 microarrays (containing probes for E. coli K-12 str. MG1655 and O157:H7 str. EDL933 and Sakai) to define genotypic differences between phage types. gDNA from E.coli O157 str. Sakai was hybridised to all arrays to provide a universal control channel on all arrays.
Project description:Six isolates of PT21/28 and six of PT32 were analysed by CGH using UBECarray3 microarrays (containing probes for E. coli K-12 str. MG1655 and O157:H7 str. EDL933 and Sakai) to define genotypic differences between phage types. gDNA from E.coli O157 str. Sakai was hybridised to all arrays to provide a universal control channel on all arrays. gDNA from 12 PT 21/28 & 32 isolates were labelled with Cy5 and control gDNA from str. Sakai was labelled with Cy3. Test and control gDNA was hybridised to UBECarray3 microarrays. The LOWESS normalised relative signal to the Sakai control channel was used to compare between samples.