title: Age-Dependent Susceptibility to Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) Infection in Mice.
abstract: Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) represents a major causative agent of infant diarrhea associated with significant morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Although studied extensively in vitro, the investigation of the host-pathogen interaction in vivo has been hampered by the lack of a suitable small animal model. Using RT-PCR and global transcriptome analysis, high throughput 16S rDNA sequencing as well as immunofluorescence and electron microscopy, we characterize the EPEC-host interaction following oral challenge of newborn mice. Spontaneous colonization of the small intestine and colon of neonate mice that lasted until weaning was observed. Intimate attachment to the epithelial plasma membrane and microcolony formation were visualized only in the presence of a functional bundle forming pili (BFP) and type III secretion system (T3SS). Similarly, a T3SS-dependent EPEC-induced innate immune response, mediated via MyD88, TLR5 and TLR9 led to the induction of a distinct set of genes in infected intestinal epithelial cells. Infection-induced alterations of the microbiota composition remained restricted to the postnatal period. Although EPEC colonized the adult intestine in the absence of a competing microbiota, no microcolonies were observed at the small intestinal epithelium. Here, we introduce the first suitable mouse infection model and describe an age-dependent, virulence factor-dependent attachment of EPEC to enterocytes in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Microbiology, RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Aachen, Germany.|Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hospital Epidemiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Aline
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dupont
authors.affiliation: The Wallenberg Laboratory, Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sommer
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Microbiology, RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Aachen, Germany.|Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hospital Epidemiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Kaiyi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Urska
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Repnik
authors.affiliation: Institute for Laboratory Animal Science, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Marijana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Basic
authors.affiliation: Institute for Laboratory Animal Science, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bleich
authors.affiliation: Institute for Functional and Applied Anatomy, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kühnel
authors.affiliation: The Wallenberg Laboratory, Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Fredrik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bäckhed
authors.affiliation: Department for Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Institute of Medical Research Israel-Canada, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Litvak
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hospital Epidemiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fulde
authors.affiliation: Department for Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Institute of Medical Research Israel-Canada, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Ilan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rosenshine
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Microbiology, RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Aachen, Germany.|Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hospital Epidemiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Mathias W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Hornef
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004198:Disease Susceptibility / Q000382:microbiology; D054308:Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D010861:Fimbriae, Bacterial / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D000069296:Type III Secretion Systems / Q000378:metabolism; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000069296:Type III Secretion Systems; D037521:Virulence Factors