Molecular cloning of the plasmid-located determinants for CS1 and CS2 fimbriae of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli of serotype O6:K15:H16 of human origin

The Virulence Regulator Rns Activates the Expression of CS14 Pili

Although many viral and bacterial pathogens cause diarrhea, enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) is one of the most frequently encountered in impoverished regions where it is estimated to kill between 300,000 and 700,000 children and infants annually. Critical ETEC virulence factors include pili which mediate the attachment of the pathogen to receptors in the intestinal lumen. In this study we show that the ETEC virulence regulator Rns positively regulates the expression of CS14 pili. Three Rns binding sites were identified upstream of the CS14 pilus promoter centered at -34.5, -80.5, and -155.5 relative to the Rns-dependent transcription start site. Mutagenesis of the promoter proximal site significantly decreased expression from the CS14 promoter. In contrast, the contribution of Rns bound at the promoter distal site was negligible and largely masked by occupancy of the promoter proximal site. Unexpectedly, Rns bound at the site centered at -80.5 had a slight but statistically significant inhibitory effect upon the pilin promoter. Nevertheless, this weak inhibitory effect was not sufficient to overcome the substantial promoter activation from Rns bound to the promoter proximal site. Thus, CS14 pili belong to a group of pili that depend upon Rns for their expression.

Residues near the amino terminus of Rns are essential for positive autoregulation and DNA binding

Most members of the AraC/XylS family contain a conserved carboxy-terminal DNA binding domain and a less conserved amino-terminal domain involved in binding small-molecule effectors and dimerization. However, there is no evidence that Rns, a regulator of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli virulence genes, responds to an effector ligand, and in this study we found that the amino-terminal domain of Rns does not form homodimers in vivo. Exposure of Rns to the chemical cross-linker glutaraldehyde revealed that the full-length protein is also a monomer in vitro. Nevertheless, deletion analysis of Rns demonstrated that the first 60 amino acids of the protein are essential for the activation and repression of Rns-regulated promoters in vivo. Amino-terminal truncation of Rns abolished DNA binding in vitro, and two randomly generated mutations, I14T and N16D, that independently abolished Rns autoregulation were isolated. Further analysis of these mutations revealed that they have disparate effects at other Rns-regulated promoters and suggest that they may be involved in an interaction with the carboxy-terminal domain of Rns. Thus, evolution may have preserved the amino terminus of Rns because it is essential for the regulator's activity even though it apparently lacks the two functions, dimerization and ligand binding, usually associated with the amino-terminal domains of AraC/XylS family members.

The membrane binding C-terminus of protein A from Staphylococcus aureus affects its cellular localization and causes structural deformation when expressed in Escherichia coli

Protein A from Staphylococcus aureus is a powerful diagnostic reagent and has several uses in human disease therapy. Expression in non-pathogenic Escherichia coli containing recombinant plasmids coding for this protein has increased its availability, but can reduce the stability of the plasmid-bearing host. By employing immune electron microscopy, we have determined that E. coli containing stable plasmids coding for a truncated version of protein A, without the membrane binding site, secrete this protein through the cytoplasmic membrane and into the periplasmic space, where it accumulates. E. coli containing unstable plasmids, however, which code for the complete protein including the membrane-binding site, target the protein into the cytoplasmic membrane. This accumulation of protein A in the E. coli cytoplasmic membrane inhibits the formation of septa between dividing cells and results in aberrant elongated, multi-chromosomal forms.

New adhesive factor (antigen 8786) on a human enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli O117:H4 strain isolated in Africa

An enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli strain, E. coli 8786, of serotype O117:H4 produced only heat-stable enterotoxin and gave mannose-resistant hemagglutination with human and bovine erythrocytes. The strain adhered to the brush border of human enterocytes and to enterocytelike cell line Caco-2. Adhesion inhibition assays using Caco-2 cells with different adhesive factor extracts showed that the adhesive factor of E. coli 8786 is different from colonization factor antigen I (CFA/I). CFA/II, CFA/III of Darfeuille et al. (A. Darfeuille, B. Lafeuille, B. Joly, and R. Cluzel, Ann. Microbiol. Inst. Pasteur 134A:53-64, 1983), CS6, and antigen 2230. A bacterial surface protein, designated antigen 8786, with a molecular mass of 16,300 Da was responsible for the adhesion to intestinal cells. It was immunologically different from previously described adhesive factors as determined by immunoblotting. Antigen 8786 was detected on the bacterial cell surface and appeared to be nonfimbrial. NH2-terminal analysis of antigen 8786 showed no homology with the previously described adhesive factors. Nevertheless, antigen 8786 is closely related to the NH2-terminal sequence of Salmonella enteritidis fimbrin. A hybridization experiment using a synthetic oligonucleotide probe based on the NH2-terminal amino acid sequence of antigen 8786 revealed that the coding region was located on a 70-MDa plasmid.