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Volume 149, Issue 6

The Pix pilus adhesin of the uropathogenic strain X2194 (O2 : K : H6) is related to Pap pili but exhibits a truncated regulatory region Free

Abstract

Adhesins provide a major advantage for uropathogenic in establishing urinary tract infections (UTIs). A novel gene cluster responsible for the expression of a filamentous adhesin of the pyelonephritogenic strain X2194 has been identified, molecularly cloned, and characterized. The ‘ operon’ contains eight open reading frames which exhibit significant sequence homology to corresponding genes in the operon encoding P pili, the prevalent adhesins in non-obstructive acute pyelonephritis in humans. Although a gene corresponding to the PapB regulator was identified, a homologue could not be found in the operon. Instead, a fragment of the R6 gene of the highly uropathogenic strain CFT073 was identified upstream of . The R6 gene is located in a pathogenicity island containing several pilus-encoding sequences and shows homology to a transposase of . In a fusion system it was demonstrated that the expression of Pix pili is regulated at the transcriptional level by the R6 gene sequence. A significantly reduced transcription was observed by deleting this fragment and by lowering the growth temperature from 37 to 26 °C. In contrast to other filamentous adhesin systems, Pix pili are mainly expressed in the steady state growth phase and were not repressed by the addition of glucose.

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  • Accepted:
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Keyword(s): PAI, pathogenicity island and UTI, urinary tract infection
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2003-06-01
2024-04-16
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The Pix pilus adhesin of the uropathogenic Escherichia coli strain X2194 (O2 : K− : H6) is related to Pap pili but exhibits a truncated regulatory region
Microbiology 149, 1387 (2003); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.26266-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.26266-0
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