title: Brighter Fluorescent Derivatives of UTI89 Utilizing a Monomeric vGFP.
abstract: Fluorescent proteins, especially green fluorescent protein (GFP), have been instrumental in understanding urinary tract infection pathogenesis by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC). We have used a recently developed GFP variant, vsfGFP-9, to create new plasmid- and chromosome-based GFP derivatives of the UPEC strain UTI89. The vsfGFP-9 strains are nearly 10× brighter with no in vitro growth or in vivo virulence defects compared to previously reported GFP-expressing UTI89 strains. The chromosomal vsfGFP-9 strain is equivalent to the wild type UTI89 during in vivo UTI, while both plasmid GFP constructs have an equivalent virulence defect compared to non-plasmid carrying UTI89. These new vsfGFP-9 expressing strains should be useful for further studies of the pathogenesis of UTI89, and similar strategies can be used to create improved fluorescent derivatives of other UPEC strains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 1E Kent Ridge Road, NUHS Tower Block, Level 10, Singapore 119074, Singapore. eshaghim@gis.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eshaghi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 1E Kent Ridge Road, NUHS Tower Block, Level 10, Singapore 119074, Singapore. mehershahiks@gis.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Kurosh S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Mehershahi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 1E Kent Ridge Road, NUHS Tower Block, Level 10, Singapore 119074, Singapore. slchen@gis.a-star.edu.sg.|Infectious Diseases Group, Genome Institute of Singapore, 60 Biopolis street, Genome, #02-01, Singapore 138672, Singapore. slchen@gis.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Swaine L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Chen
keywords: GFP; urinary tract infection; uropathogenic Escherichia coli