title: Cloned hemolysin genes from Escherichia coli that cause urinary tract infection determine different levels of toxicity in mice.
abstract: After intraperitoneal injection of mice with Escherichia coli strains isolated from patients with urinary tract infections, the mortality due to hemolytic (Hly+) and nonhemolytic (Hly-) isolates was 77 and 40%, respectively. Deletion of the chromosomal hemolysin (hly) determinant in an E. coli O6:K15:H31 urinary tract infection strain led to a significant reduction in toxicity for mice, and its reintroduction on a recombinant plasmid partially restored the original toxicity. Although introduction of the cloned plasmid pHly152-encoded hly determinant into the Hly- E. coli O6 mutant strain increased toxicity by only a marginal degree, transformation with the cloned chromosomal hly determinants from two E. coli strains of serotypes O18ac:K5:H- and O75:K95:H? resulted in markedly greater toxicity, even exceeding that of the original Hly+ E. coli O6 wild-type strain.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006459:Hemolysin Factors; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D009154:Mutation; D010957:Plasmids; D014169:Transformation, Bacterial; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000382:microbiology; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D006460:Hemolysin Proteins