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Journal of Bacteriology, April 2004, p. 2319-2327, Vol. 186, No. 8
0021-9193/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.186.8.2319-2327.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

A 12-Base-Pair Deletion in the Flagellar Master Control Gene flhC Causes Nonmotility of the Pathogenic German Sorbitol-Fermenting Escherichia coli O157:H- Strains

Steven R. Monday,1 Scott A. Minnich,2 and Peter C. H. Feng1*

Division of Microbiological Studies, Food and Drug Administration, College Park, Maryland,1 Department of Microbiology, Molecular Biology, and Biochemistry, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho2

Received 28 October 2003/ Accepted 7 January 2004

An atypical, Stx2-producing, pathogenic Escherichia coli O157:H- strain has been isolated with increasing frequency from hemolytic uremic syndrome patients in Germany. The lack of the H7 antigen coupled with the strain's ability to ferment sorbitol and express ß-glucuronidase have complicated its detection and identification. In this study, we have determined that the loss of motility in these German sorbitol-fermenting (SF) O157 strains is due to a 12-bp in-frame deletion in flhC that is required for transcriptional activation of genes involved in flagellum biosynthesis. Either complementation with a functional flhC or repair of this mutation restored H7 antigen expression and motility. PCR analysis of several nonmotile E. coli O157 strains from various geographical sources confirmed that the 12-bp flhC deletion is found only in the cluster of German SF O157 strains, providing a potentially useful marker by which these atypical strains can be identified. The loss of motility via mutations in the flhDC operon that we observed in the German SF O157 strains is consistent with a similar phenomenon currently observed in a significant subset of other important gram-negative pathogens.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: HFS-516, FDA, 5100 Paint Branch Pkwy., College Park, MD 20740-3835. Phone: (301) 436-1650. Fax: (301) 436-2644. E-mail: pfeng{at}cfsan.fda.gov.

Journal of Bacteriology, April 2004, p. 2319-2327, Vol. 186, No. 8
0021-9193/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.186.8.2319-2327.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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