[Case report of acute encephalopathy caused by enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli infection in a 24-year-old woman]

The specific effect of (R)-(+)-pulegone on growth and biofilm formation in multi-drug resistant Escherichia coli and molecular mechanisms underlying the expression of pgaABCD genes

E. coli is associated with high rates of infection and resistance to drugs not only in China but also the rest of the world. In addition, the number of E. coli biofilm infections continue to increase with time. Notably, biofilms are attractive targets for the prevention of infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria. Moreover, the pgaABCD-encoded Poly-β-1,6-N-acetyl-d-glucosamine (PNAG) plays an important role in biofilm formation. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the specific effect of the (R)-(+)-pulegone (PU) on growth and biofilm formation in multi-drug resistant E. coli. The molecular mechanisms involved were also examined. The results showed that PU had significant antibacterial and antibiofilm formation activity against E. coli K1, with MIC and MBC values of 23.68 and 47.35 mg/mL, respectively. On the other hand, the maximum inhibition rate for biofilm formation in the bacterium was 52.36 % at 94.70 mg/mL of PU. qRT-PCR data showed that PU significantly down-regulated expression of the pgaABCD genes (P < 0.05). PU was also broadly effective against biofilm formation in MG1655 and MG1655/ΔpgaABCD, exhibiting the maximum inhibition rates were 98.23 % and 93.35 %, respectively. In addition, PU destroyed pre-formed mature biofilm in both MG1655 and MG1655/ΔpgaABCD about 95.03 % and 92.4 %, respectively. The study therefore verified that pgaA was a potential and key target for PU in E. coli although it was not the only one. Overall, the findings indicated that PU is a potential and novel inhibitor of drug resistance, This therefore gives insights on new ways of preventing and treating biofilm-associated infections in the food industry as well as in clinical practice.

Host response to the subtilase cytotoxin produced by locus of enterocyte effacement-negative Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli

Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC) is a major bacterium responsible for disease resulting from foodborne infection, including bloody diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome. STEC produces important virulence factors such as Shiga toxin (Stx) 1 and/or 2. In the STEC family, some locus of enterocyte effacement-negative STEC produce two different types of cytotoxins, namely, Stx2 and subtilase cytotoxin (SubAB). The Stx2 and SubAB cytotoxins are structurally similar and composed of one A subunit and pentamer of B subunits. The catalytically active A subunit of SubAB is a subtilase-like serine protease and specifically cleaves an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) chaperone 78-kDa glucose-regulated protein (GRP78/BiP), a monomeric ATPase that is crucial in protein folding and quality control. The B subunit binds to cell surface receptors. SubAB recognizes sialic carbohydrate-modified cell surface proteins as a receptor. After translocation into cells, SubAB is delivered to the ER, where it cleaves GRP78/BiP. SubAB-catalyzed BiP cleavage induces ER stress, which causes various cell events including inhibition of protein synthesis, suppression of nuclear factor-kappa B activation, apoptotic cell death, and stress granules formation. In this review, we describe SubAB, the SubAB receptor, and the mechanism of cell response to the toxin.