Catabolite repression of the colonization factor antigen I (CFA/I) operon ofEscherichia coli

Identification of Novel Components Influencing Colonization Factor Antigen I Expression in Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli

Colonization factors (CFs) mediate early adhesion of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) in the small intestine. Environmental signals including bile, glucose, and contact with epithelial cells have previously been shown to modulate CF expression in a strain dependent manner. To identify novel components modulating CF surface expression, 20 components relevant to the intestinal environment were selected for evaluation. These included mucin, bicarbonate, norepinephrine, lincomycin, carbon sources, and cations. Effects of individual components on surface expression of the archetype CF, CFA/I, were screened using a fractional factorial Hadamard matrix incorporating 24 growth conditions. As most CFs agglutinate erythrocytes, surface expression was evaluated by mannose resistant hemagglutination. Seven components, including porcine gastric mucin, lincomycin, glutamine, and glucose were found to induce CFA/I surface expression in vitro in a minimal media while five others were inhibitory, including leucine and 1,10-phenanthroline. To further explore the effect of components positively influencing CFA/I surface expression, a response surface methodology (RSM) was designed incorporating 36 growth conditions. The optimum concentration for each component was identified, thereby generating a novel culture media, SP1, for CFA/I expression. CFs closely related to CFA/I, including CS4 and CS14 were similarly induced in SP1 media. Other epidemiologically relevant CFs were also induced when compared to the level obtained in minimal media. These results indicate that although CF surface expression is complex and highly variable among strains, the CF response can be predicted for closely related strains. A novel culture media inducing CFs in the CF5a group was successfully identified. In addition, mucin was found to positively influence CF expression in strains expressing either CFA/I or CS1 and CS3, and may function as a common environmental cue.

IscR Regulates Synthesis of Colonization Factor Antigen I Fimbriae in Response to Iron Starvation in Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli

Iron availability functions as an environmental cue for enteropathogenic bacteria, signaling arrival within the human host. As enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a major cause of human diarrhea, the effect of iron on ETEC virulence factors was evaluated here. ETEC pathogenicity is directly linked to production of fimbrial colonization factors and secretion of heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) and/or heat-stable enterotoxin (ST). Efficient colonization of the small intestine further requires at least the flagellin binding adhesin EtpA. Under iron starvation, production of the CFA/I fimbriae was increased in the ETEC H10407 prototype strain. In contrast, LT secretion was inhibited. Furthermore, under iron starvation, gene expression of the cfa (CFA/I) and etp (EtpBAC) operons was induced, whereas transcription of toxin genes was either unchanged or repressed. Transcriptional reporter fusion experiments focusing on the cfa operon further showed that iron starvation stimulated cfaA promoter activity in ETEC, indicating that the impact of iron on CFA/I production was mediated by transcriptional regulation. Evaluation of cfaA promoter activity in heterologous E. coli single mutant knockout strains identified IscR as the regulator responsible for inducing cfa fimbrial gene expression in response to iron starvation, and this was confirmed in an ETEC ΔiscR strain. The global iron response regulator, Fur, was not implicated. IscR binding sites were identified in silico within the cfaA promoter and fixation confirmed by DNase I footprinting, indicating that IscR directly binds the promoter region to induce CFA/I.

IMPORTANCE

Pathogenic enterobacteria modulate expression of virulence genes in response to iron availability. Although the Fur transcription factor represents the global regulator of iron homeostasis in Escherichia coli, we show that several ETEC virulence factors are modulated by iron, with expression of the major fimbriae under the control of the iron-sulfur cluster regulator, IscR. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the apo form of IscR, lacking an Fe-S cluster, is able to directly fix the corresponding promoter region. These results provide further evidence implicating IscR in bacterial virulence and suggest that IscR may represent a more general regulator mediating the iron response in enteropathogens.

The tib adherence locus of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli is regulated by cyclic AMP receptor protein

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a Gram-negative enteric pathogen that causes profuse watery diarrhea through the elaboration of heat-labile and/or heat-stable toxins. Virulence is also dependent upon the expression of adhesive pili and afimbrial adhesins that allow the pathogen to adhere to the intestinal epithelium or mucosa. Both types of enterotoxins are regulated at the level of transcription by cyclic AMP (cAMP) receptor protein (CRP). To further our understanding of virulence gene regulation, an in silico approach was used to identify putative CRP binding sites in the genome of H10407 (O78:H11), an ETEC strain that was originally isolated from the stool of a Bangledeshi patient with cholera-like symptoms circa 1971. One of the predicted binding sites was located within an intergenic region upstream of tibDBCA. TibA is an autotransporter and afimbrial adhesin that is glycosylated by TibC. Expression of the TibA glycoprotein was abolished in an H10407 crp mutant and restored when crp was provided in trans. TibA-dependent aggregation was also abolished in a cyaA::kan strain and restored by addition of exogenous cAMP to the growth medium. DNase I footprinting confirmed that the predicted site upstream of tibDBCA is bound by CRP. Point mutations within the CRP binding site were found to abolish or significantly impair CRP-dependent activation of the tibDB promoter. Thus, these studies demonstrate that CRP positively regulates the expression of the glycosylated afimbrial adhesin TibA through occupancy of a binding site within tibDBp.

Heat-labile enterotoxin promotes Escherichia coli adherence to intestinal epithelial cells

Given recent evidence suggesting that the heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) provides a colonization advantage for enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) in vivo, we hypothesized that LT preconditions the host intestinal epithelium for ETEC adherence. To test this hypothesis, we used an in vitro model of ETEC adherence to examine the role of LT in promoting bacterium-host interactions. We present data demonstrating that elaboration of LT promotes a significant increase in E. coli adherence. This phenotype is primarily dependent on the inherent ADP-ribosylation activity of this toxin, with a secondary role observed for the receptor-binding LT-B subunit. Rp-3',5'-cyclic AMP (cAMP), an inhibitor of protein kinase A, was sufficient to abrogate LT's ability to promote subsequent bacterial adherence. Increased adherence was not due to changes in the surface expression of the host receptor for the K88ac adhesin. Evidence is also presented for a role for bacterial sensing of host-derived cAMP in promoting adherence to host cells.

Colonization factors of diarrheagenic E. coli and their intestinal receptors

While Escherichia coli is common as a commensal organism in the distal ileum and colon, the presence of colonization factors (CF) on pathogenic strains of E. coli facilitates attachment of the organism to intestinal receptor molecules in a species- and tissue-specific fashion. After the initial adherence, colonization occurs, and the involvement of additional virulence determinants leads to illness. Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) is the most extensively studied of the five categories of E. coli that cause diarrheal disease, and has the greatest impact on health worldwide. ETEC can be isolated from domestic animals and humans. The biochemistry, genetics, epidemiology, antigenic characteristics, and cell and receptor binding properties of ETEC have been extensively described. Another major category, enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), has virulence mechanisms, primarily effacement and cytoskeletal rearrangement of intestinal brush borders, that are distinct from ETEC. An EPEC CF receptor has been purified and characterized as a sialidated transmembrane glycoprotein complex directly attached to actin, thereby associating CF-binding with host-cell response. Three additional categories of E. coli diarrheal disease, their colonization factors and their host cell receptors, are discussed. It appears that biofilms exist in the intestine in a manner similar to oral bacterial biofilms, and that E. coli is part of these biofilms as both commensals and pathogens.