title: Aspects of genome plasticity in pathogenic Escherichia coli.
abstract: The species Escherichia coli comprises not only non-pathogenic or commensal variants that belong to the normal intestinal flora of most mammals, but also various pathogenic strains causing diverse intestinal and extraintestinal infections in man and animals. Virulence factors and mechanisms involved in pathogenesis have been successfully analyzed for many years resulting in a wealth of knowledge about many E. coli pathotypes. However, our knowledge on the genome content, diversity and variability between pathogenic and also non-pathogenic subtypes is only slowly accumulating. Pathotypes have been largely defined by the presence or absence of particular DNA segments that in most cases appear to have been acquired via horizontal gene transfer events. As these regions are frequently subjected to excisions, rearrangements, and transfers they contribute to the previously unexpected and underestimated rapid evolution of E. coli variants resulting in the development of novel strains and even pathotypes. In these studies various novel aspects of genome diversity and plasticity in extraintestinal and intestinal pathogenic E. coli pathotypes have been addressed and the results have been directly applied for the improvement of diagnostic methods.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Hygiene, Universitätsklinikum Münster, Robert-Koch-Str. 41, D-48149 Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bielaszewska
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Dobrindt
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gärtner
authors.forename: Inka
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gallitz
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hacker
authors.forename: Helge
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Karch
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Sören
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schubert
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alexander Schmidt
authors.forename: Liisa Johanna
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Sorsa
authors.forename: Jaroslaw
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zdziarski
mesh_terms: D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D037521:Virulence Factors