This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ramos-Morales, F. Articles by Casadesús, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Ramos-Morales, F. Articles by Casadesús, J.

 Previous Article

Journal of Bacteriology, September 2003, p. 5328-5332, Vol. 185, No. 17
0021-9193/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.185.17.5328-5332.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Role for Salmonella enterica Enterobacterial Common Antigen in Bile Resistance and Virulence

Francisco Ramos-Morales,^1* Ana I. Prieto,¹ Carmen R. Beuzón,^2, David W. Holden,² and Josep Casadesús¹

Departamento de Genética, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville 41080, Spain,¹ Department of Infectious Diseases, Centre for Molecular Microbiology and Infection, Imperial College School of Medicine, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom²

Received 17 March 2003/ Accepted 2 June 2003

Passage through the digestive tract exposes Salmonella enterica to high concentrations of bile salts, powerful detergents that disrupt biological membranes. Mutations in the wecD or wecA gene, both of which are involved in the synthesis of enterobacterial common antigen (ECA), render S. enterica serovar Typhimurium sensitive to the bile salt deoxycholate. Competitive infectivity analysis of wecD and wecA mutants in the mouse model indicates that ECA is an important virulence factor for oral infection. In contrast, lack of ECA causes only a slight decrease in Salmonella virulence during intraperitoneal infection. A tentative interpretation is that ECA may contribute to Salmonella virulence by protecting the pathogen from bile salts.

Present address: Dep. Biología Celular, Genética y Fisiología, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos, 29071 Málaga, Spain.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Castelli, M. E., Fedrigo, G. V., Clementin, A. L., Ielmini, M. V., Feldman, M. F., Vescovi, E. G. (2008). Enterobacterial Common Antigen Integrity Is a Checkpoint for Flagellar Biogenesis in Serratia marcescens. J. Bacteriol. 190: 213-220 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Heithoff, D. M., Badie, G., Julio, S. M., Enioutina, E. Y., Daynes, R. A., Sinsheimer, R. L., Mahan, M. J. (2007). In Vivo-Selected Mutations in Methyl-Directed Mismatch Repair Suppress the Virulence Attenuation of Salmonella dam Mutant Strains following Intraperitoneal, but Not Oral, Infection of Naive Mice. J. Bacteriol. 189: 4708-4717 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Thijs, I. M. V., De Keersmaecker, S. C. J., Fadda, A., Engelen, K., Zhao, H., McClelland, M., Marchal, K., Vanderleyden, J. (2007). Delineation of the Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium HilA Regulon through Genome-Wide Location and Transcript Analysis. J. Bacteriol. 189: 4587-4596 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Inoue, T., Shingaki, R., Hirose, S., Waki, K., Mori, H., Fukui, K. (2007). Genome-Wide Screening of Genes Required for Swarming Motility in Escherichia coli K-12. J. Bacteriol. 189: 950-957 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kajimura, J., Rahman, A., Hsu, J., Evans, M. R., Gardner, K. H., Rick, P. D. (2006). O Acetylation of the Enterobacterial Common Antigen Polysaccharide Is Catalyzed by the Product of the yiaH Gene of Escherichia coli K-12. J. Bacteriol. 188: 7542-7550 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Prieto, A. I., Ramos-Morales, F., Casadesus, J. (2006). Repair of DNA Damage Induced by Bile Salts in Salmonella enterica. Genetics 174: 575-584 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Hung, M.-N., Rangarajan, E., Munger, C., Nadeau, G., Sulea, T., Matte, A. (2006). Crystal Structure of TDP-Fucosamine Acetyltransferase (WecD) from Escherichia coli, an Enzyme Required for Enterobacterial Common Antigen Synthesis.. J. Bacteriol. 188: 5606-5617 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kajimura, J., Rahman, A., Rick, P. D. (2005). Assembly of Cyclic Enterobacterial Common Antigen in Escherichia coli K-12. J. Bacteriol. 187: 6917-6927 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Prieto, A. I., Ramos-Morales, F., Casadesus, J. (2004). Bile-Induced DNA Damage in Salmonella enterica. Genetics 168: 1787-1794 [Abstract] [Full Text]