Identification of an Escherichia coli gene homologous to virR, a regulator of Shigella virulence. |
| |
Authors: | A E Hromockyj and A T Maurelli |
| |
Institution: | Department of Microbiology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland 20814. |
| |
Abstract: | Virulence in Shigella spp., as well as in strains of enteroinvasive Escherichia coli, is regulated by growth temperature. Previously, virR had been identified as the gene controlling the temperature-regulated expression of Shigella virulence. Since Shigella spp. and E. coli are also known to share greater than 90% DNA sequence homology, we sought to determine if nonpathogenic E. coli K-12 C600 contains a gene homologous to the Shigella flexneri 2a gene virR. Through the use of transduction and molecular cloning of strain C600 chromosomal DNA we have shown that E. coli K-12 does indeed contain a gene functionally homologous to the virR of S. flexneri. |
| |
Keywords: | |
|
|