Abstract
Chemical communication mediates signaling between cells. Bacteria also engage in chemical signaling, termed quorum sensing (QS), to coordinate population-wide behavior. The bacterial pathogen enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), responsible for outbreaks of bloody diarrhea worldwide, exploits QS to promote expression of virulence factors in humans. Although EHEC is a human pathogen, it is a member of the gastrointestinal (GI) flora in cattle, the main reservoir for this bacterium. EHEC cattle colonization requires SdiA, a QS transcription factor that uses acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs), for proper folding and function. EHEC harbors SdiA, but does not produce AHLs, consequently having to sense AHLs produced by other bacterial species. We recently showed that SdiA is necessary for efficient EHEC passage through the bovine GI tract, and show that AHLs are prominent within cattle rumen, but absent from the other sections of the GI tract. EHEC utilizes the locus of enterocyte effacement
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