The ability of an attaching and effacing pathogen to trigger localized actin assembly contributes to virulence by promoting mucosal attachment

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Abstract
Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) colonizes the intestine and causes bloody diarrhoea and kidney failure by producing Shiga toxin. Upon binding intestinal cells, EHEC triggers a change in host cell shape, generating actin ‘pedestals’ beneath bound bacteria. To investigate the importance of pedestal formation to disease, we infected genetically engineered mice incapable of supporting pedestal formation by an EHEC‐like mouse pathogen, or wild type mice with a mutant of that pathogen incapable of generating pedestals. We found that pedestal formation promotes attachment of bacteria to the intestinal mucosa and vastly increases the severity of Shiga toxin‐mediated disease.
Funding Information
  • National Institutes of Health (R21 AI092009)
  • National Institutes of Health (R01 AI46454)
  • National Institutes of Health (P01 HL059561)
  • National Institutes of Health (R01 AI052354)
  • National Institutes of Health (5P30DK034854)
  • National Institutes of Health (K08 DK094966)
  • National Institutes of Health (DK56754)
  • National Institutes of Health (DK33506)
  • National Institutes of Health (UL1 TR000073)
  • Boston Area Diabetes and Endocrinology Research Center (DK57521)
  • Chron's and Colitis Foundation of America (Career Development Award)
  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease Grant (DK43351)
  • National Center for Research Resources (UL1 RR025752)

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