Journal
EXPERIMENTAL PARASITOLOGY
Volume 128, Issue 4, Pages 409-413Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.exppara.2011.05.008
Keywords
Acanthamoeba; Escherichia coli; Encystment; Type III secretion system
Categories
Funding
- Aga Khan University
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The type III secretion system among Gram-negative bacteria is known to deliver effectors into host cell to interfere with host cellular processes. The type III secretion system in Yersina, Pseudomonas and Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli have been well documented to be involved in the bacterial pathogenicity. The existence of type III secretion system has been demonstrated in neuropathogenic E. coli K1 strains. Here, it is observed that the deletion mutant of type III secretion system in E. coli strain EC10 exhibited defects in the invasion and intracellular survival in Acanthamoeba castellanii (a keratitis isolate) compared to its parent strain. Next, it was determined whether type III secretion system plays a role in E. coli K1 survival inside Acanthamoeba during the encystment process. Using encystment assays, our findings revealed that the type III secretion system-deletion mutant exhibited significantly reduced survival inside Acanthamoeba cysts compared with its parent strain, EC10 (P < 0.01). This is the first demonstration that the type III secretion system plays an important role in E. coli interactions with Acanthamoeba. A complete understanding of how amoebae harbor bacterial pathogens will help design strategies against E. coli transmission to the susceptible hosts. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available