Abstract
Pathogenicity islands (PIs) are discrete segments of bacterial chromosomal DNA that encode multiple virulence genes. PIs are present in some strains but entirely absent in others, and are presumed to have been acquired by horizontal transfer from another species at some point in their evolution. Many PIs in many types of pathogenic bacteria have now been identified. For example, the LEE (locus of enterocyte effacement) PI is a 35.6 kb fragment of DNA, carried by only some strains of E. coli, that encodes genes causing bacterial attachment to intestinal epithelium and effacement – the formation of lesions characterized by loss of microvilli and induction of a cellular pedestals. LEE is found in enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), which cause diarrhoea in infants, and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), including serotype O157 strains, which cause severe foodpoisoning outbreaks.
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