, 2003; Toledo-Arana et al., 2007; Fozo et al., 2010; Sridhar et al., 2010). Together with computational tools for the detection of sRNAs in completed genomes (Sridhar et al., 2010) such as B. proteoclasticus B316T, we believe that transposon mutants with Tn916 insertion into intergenic regions may prove to be useful selleck products tools for studying the transcription and/or the translation of adjacent genes regulated by sRNAs and are currently investigating the transcription/translation characteristics of several intergenic mutants obtained from this study. We thank Peter Janssen for critically reviewing this manuscript. This work was funded under the Rumen Microbial

Functional Genomics Programme (FRST C10X0314) by the New Zealand Foundation for

Research, Science and Technology as part of the New Economy Research Fund. “
“The long polar fimbriae (Lpf) is one of few adhesive factors of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and it is associated with colonization of the intestine. Studies have demonstrated the presence of lpf genes in several pathogenic E. coli strains, and classification of variants based on polymorphisms in the lpfA1 and lpfA2 genes has been adopted. Using a collection of Argentinean locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE)-negative STEC strains, we determined that the different lpfA types were present in a wide variety Enzalutamide research buy of serotypes with no apparent association between the types of lpfA1 or lpfA2 genes and the severity of human disease. The lpfA2-1 was the most prevalent variant identified, which was present in 95.8% of the isolates, and lpfA1-3 and

lpfA2-2, proposed as specific biomarkers of E. coli O157:H7, were not found in any of the serotypes studied. The prevalence of lpf genes in a large number of strains is useful to understand the genetic diversity of LEE-negative STEC and to define the association of some of these isolates carrying specific lpf-variants with disease. Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains are foodborne enteric pathogens associated with different Idelalisib research buy clinical manifestations such as nonbloody diarrhea, hemorrhagic colitis (HC) and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) (reviewed in Nataro & Kaper, 1998). Although E. coli O157:H7 is the most prevalent serotype associated with sporadic cases and large outbreaks of HC and HUS, there is growing concern about the emergence of highly virulent STEC non-O157 serotypes that become globally distributed and associated with outbreaks and/or severe human illness (Coombes et al., 2008). Ruminants, particularly cattle, are recognized as the main natural reservoir for STEC and cattle-derived food products have been implicated in many outbreaks (Caprioli et al., 2005).