RESEARCH ARTICLE SspA up-regulates gene e e

Full list of author information is available at the end of the articlecausing diarrhea, hemorrhagic colitis and the potentially fatal complication hemolytic uremic syndrome in humans [1,2]. EHEC colonization of enterocytes of the large bowel is characterized by an intestinal attaching and effacing (A/E) histopathology, which is manifested by a localized degeneration of brush border microvilli and an intimate a type III secretion system (T3SS) mainly encoded by the 35–45 kb locus of enterocyte effacement pathogenicity island (hereafter named LEE), which is conserved in some EHEC isolates and other A/E pathogens such as enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC), atypical EPEC, rabbit EPEC, Escherichia albertii and Citrobacter rodentium [4–7]. The LEE pathogenicity island comprises at least 41 genes that mainly are located in five major oper-ons (LEE1-5). The LEE encodes a TTSS, translocator pro