A brief overview of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and its plasmid O157.
Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a major food-borne pathogen causing severe disease in humans worldwide. Healthy cattle are a reservoir of E. coli O157:H7 and bovine food products and fresh produce contaminated with bovine waste are the most common sources for disease outbreaks in the United States. E. coli O157:H7 also survives well in the environment. The ability to cause human disease, colonize the bovine gastrointestinal tract, and survive in the environment, requires that E. coli O157:H7 adapt to a wide variety of conditions. Three major virulence factors of E. coli O157:H7 have been identified including Shiga toxins, a pathogenicity island called the locus of enterocyte effacement, and an F-like plasmid, pO157. Among these virulence factors, the role of the pO157 is least understood. This review provides a board overview of E. coli O157:H7 with an emphasis on the pO157.
Department of Microbiology, Molecular Biology, and Biochemistry, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844, USA.
Ji Youn
JY
Lim
Jangwon
J
Yoon
Carolyn J
CJ
Hovde
D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle / Q000382:microbiology; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000382:microbiology; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission; D019453:Escherichia coli O157 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006801:Humans; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
D037521:Virulence Factors