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PBSC : Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection - Journals
Beschreibungen/Notizen
The bacterium Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a worldwide threat to
public health and has been implicated in many outbreaks of haemorrhagic colitis,
some of which included fatalities caused by haemolytic uraemic syndrome. Close to 75,000 cases of O157:H7 infection are now estimated
to occur annually in the United States. The severity of disease,
the lack of effective treatment and the potential for large-scale outbreaks
from contaminated food supplies have propelled intensive research on the pathogenesis
and detection of E. coli O157:H7 (ref. 4).
Here we have sequenced the genome of E. coli O157:H7 to identify candidate
genes responsible for pathogenesis, to develop better methods of strain detection
and to advance our understanding of the evolution of E. coli, through
comparison with the genome of the non-pathogenic laboratory strain E. coli
K-12 (ref. 5). We find that lateral gene
transfer is far more extensive than previously anticipated. In fact, 1,387
new genes encoded in strain-specific clusters of diverse sizes were found
in O157:H7. These include candidate virulence factors, alternative metabolic
capacities, several prophages and other new functions-all of which could
be targets for surveillance.