When enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) attach and infect host cells, they induce a cytoskeletal rearrangement and the formation of cytoplasmic columns of actin filaments called pedestals. The attached EPEC and pedestals move over the surface of the host cell in an actin-dependent reaction [Sanger et al., 1996: Cell Motil Cytoskeleton 34:279-287]. The discovery that EPEC inserts the prote...

The human pathogen Escherichia coli O157:H7 causes hemorrhagic colitis and life-threatening sequelae and transiently colonizes healthy cattle at the terminal rectal mucosa. This study analyzed virulence factors important for the clinical manifestations of human E. coli O157:H7 infection for their contribution to the persistence of E. coli in cattle. The colonizing ability of E. coli O157:H7 was...

Atypical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (aEPEC) strains are diarrheal pathogens that lack bundle-forming pilus production but possess the virulence-associated locus of enterocyte effacement. aEPEC strain 1551-2 produces localized adherence (LA) on HeLa cells; however, its isogenic intimin (eae) mutant produces a diffuse-adherence (DA) pattern. In this study, we aimed to identify the DA-assoc...

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7 causes hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) by colonizing the gut mucosa and producing Shiga toxins (Stx). The only factor clearly demonstrated to play a role in EHEC adherence to intestinal epithelial cells is intimin, which binds host cell integrins and nucleolin, as well as a receptor (Tir) that it injects into the host cel...

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and Citrobacter rodentium are attaching-and-effacing (A/E) pathogens that cause intestinal inflammation and diarrhea. The bacteria adhere to the intestinal epithelium, destroy microvilli, and induce actin-filled membranous pedestals but do not invade the mucosa. Adherence leads to activation of several host cell kinases, including FYN, n-SRC, YES, ABL, a...