Transfer region of pO113 from enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli: similarity with R64 and identification of a novel plasmid-encoded autotransporter, EpeA

Infect Immun. 2003 Nov;71(11):6307-19. doi: 10.1128/IAI.71.11.6307-6319.2003.

Abstract

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) is a prominent, food-borne cause of diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, and the hemolytic uremic syndrome in industrialized countries. Most strains of EHEC carry the locus for enterocyte effacement (LEE) pathogenicity island, but a proportion of isolates from patients with severe disease do not carry LEE and very little is known about virulence factors in these organisms. LEE-negative strains of EHEC typically express Shiga toxin 2 and carry a large plasmid that encodes the production of EHEC hemolysin. In this study, we determined the nucleotide sequence of the transfer region of pO113, the large hemolysin plasmid from LEE-negative EHEC O113:H21 (EH41). This 63.9-kb region showed a high degree of similarity with the transfer region of R64, and pO113 was capable of self-transmission at low frequencies. Unlike R64 and the related dot/icm system of Legionella pneumophila, however, pO113 was unable to mobilize RSF1010. In addition, the pO113 transfer region encoded a novel high-molecular-weight serine protease autotransporter of Enterobacteriaceae (SPATE) protein, termed EpeA. Like other SPATEs, EpeA exhibited protease activity and mucinase activity, but expression was not associated with a cytopathic effect on epithelial cells. Analysis of a second high-molecular-weight secreted protein revealed that pO113 also encodes EspP, a cytopathic SPATE identified previously in EHEC O157:H7. The nucleotide sequences encoding the predicted beta-domains of espP and epeA were identical and also shared significant homology with a third SPATE protein, EspI. Both espP and epeA were detected in several LEE-negative clinical isolates of EHEC and thus may contribute to the pathogenesis of this subset of EHEC.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Escherichia coli O157 / genetics*
  • Escherichia coli O157 / pathogenicity
  • Escherichia coli Proteins / chemistry
  • Escherichia coli Proteins / genetics*
  • Escherichia coli Proteins / physiology
  • Hemolysin Proteins / genetics*
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Plasmids
  • Polysaccharide-Lyases / genetics
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Serine Endopeptidases / chemistry
  • Serine Endopeptidases / genetics*
  • Serine Endopeptidases / physiology
  • Temperature

Substances

  • Escherichia coli Proteins
  • Hemolysin Proteins
  • EspP protein, E coli
  • Serine Endopeptidases
  • Polysaccharide-Lyases
  • hyaluronate lyase