The plasticity region of Helicobacter pylori strain J99 is a large chromosomal segment containing 33 strain-specific open reading frames (ORFs) with characteristics of a pathogenicity island. To study the diversity of the plasticity region, 22 probes corresponding to 20 ORFs inside the plasticity region and two ORFs on its boundaries were hybridized to genomic DNA isolated from clinical strains...

Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium a hyperreplicating population, exists inside the cytoplasm of infected epithelial cells. This population expresses genes belonging to the Salmonella Pathogenicity Island 1 (SPI-1) after exiting from the Salmonella Containing Vacuole (SCV) (Knodler, et al., 2010) (Beuzon, et al., 2002). SCV provides a protective niche to Salmonella typhimurium and the reas...

The inv gene of Yersinia enterocolitica codes for invasin, a member of the invasin/intimin-like protein family, which mediates the internalization of the bacterium into cultured epithelial cells. The putative inclusion of inv into a pathogenicity island was tested by investigating its flanking sequences. Indeed, the enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) intimin, a member of the same family o...

At least five proteins are secreted extracellularly by enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC), a leading cause of infant diarrhea in developing countries. However only one, EspC, is known to be secreted independently of the type III secretion apparatus encoded by genes located within the 35.6-kb locus of enterocyte effacement pathogenicity island. EspC is a member of the autotransporter famil...

The regulation model of the Staphylococcus aureus pathogenicity island SaPIbov1 transfer was recently reported. The repressor protein Stl obstructs the expression of SaPI proteins Str and Xis, latter which is responsible for mobilization initiation. Upon Φ11 phage infection of S. aureus. phage dUTPase activates the SaPI transfer via Stl-dUTPase complex formation. Our aim was to predict the bind...

The genus Salmonella includes many pathogens of great medical and veterinary importance. Bacteria belonging to this genus are very closely related to those belonging to the genus Escherichia. lacZYA operon and lacI are present in Escherichia coli, but not in Salmonella enterica. It has been proposed that Salmonella has lost lacZYA operon and lacI during evolution. In this study, we have investi...