Free-living amoebae represent a potential reservoir and predator of Salmonella enterica. Through the use of type III secretion system (T3SS) mutants and analysis of transcription of selected T3SS genes, we demonstrated that the Salmonella pathogenicity island 2 is highly induced during S. enterica serovar Typhimurium infection of Acanthamoeba polyphaga and is essential for survival within amoebae.

Some strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus cause acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) in shrimp. We sequenced 3 AHPND and 3 non-AHPND strains and found that all of them lacked the pathogenicity island relevant to human infection. A unique sequence encoding a type IV pilus/type IV secretion system was found in 3 AHPND strains.

The Shigella resistance locus (SRL) pathogenicity island (PAI) in Shigella spp. mediates resistance to streptomycin, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, and tetracycline. It can be excised from the chromosome via site-specific recombination mediated by the P4-related int gene. Here, we show that SRL PAI attP is capable of RecA-independent, site-specific, int-mediated integration into two bacterial tRN...

Helicobacter pylori enhances the risk for ulcer disease and gastric cancer, yet only a minority of H. pylori-colonized individuals develop disease. We examined the ability of two H. pylori isolates to induce differential host responses in vivo or in vitro, and then used an H. pylori whole genome microarray to identify bacterial determinants related to pathogenesis. Gastric ulcer strain B128 ind...

Bacteroides fragilis causes the majority of Gram-negative anaerobic infections in the humans. The presence of a short, 6-kb, pathogenicity island in the genome is linked to enterotoxigenic B. fragilis (ETBF). The role of the enterotoxin in B. fragilis virulence, however, remains to be determined, as the majority of clinical isolates lack ETBF genes and healthy individuals carry enterotoxin-posi...

The large Pseudomonas aeruginosa pathogenicity island PAPI-1 of strain PA14 is a cluster of 108 genes that encode a number of virulence features. We demonstrate that, in a subpopulation of cells, PAPI-1 can exist in an extrachromosomal circular form after precise excision from its integration site within the 3' terminus of the tRNA(Lys) gene. Circular PAPI-1 can reintegrate into either of the t...

Although O157:H7 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are the predominant cause of hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) in the world, non-O157:H7 serotypes are a medically important cause of HUS that are underdetected by current diagnostic approaches. Because Shiga toxin is necessary but not sufficient to cause HUS, identifying the virulence determinants that predict severe disease after no...

The bacterial species Vibrio cholerae includes harmless aquatic strains as well as strains capable of causing epidemics and global pandemics of cholera. While investigating the relationship between pathogenic and nonpathogenic strains, we identified a chromosomal pathogenicity island (PAI) that is present in epidemic and pandemic strains but absent from nonpathogenic strains. Initially, two Tox...

We report a de novo -assembled draft genome sequence of the Indian Staphylococcus aureus type 88 (ST88) strain LVP-7, isolated from an ocular infection. The harbors Panton-Valentine leukocidin phage, V staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec element, delta-hemolysin-converting Newman phage ΦNM3, and pathogenicity island SaPI3, encoding superantigen enterotoxin B.

A multiplexed screening system to detect pathogenicity islands (PI) of bacteria causing enteric disease and pathogenicity factors (PF) associated with the SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Rift Valley Fever Virus (RVFV) has been developed. This system is based upon the Luminex xMAPTM System, a multiplexed assay platform that combines high sample throughput (up to 600 samples/hour) with...