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Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) infection from food or water often results in severe diarrheal disease and is a leading cause of death globally. Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) secreted from E. coli induce lethality in mice. The omptin outer membrane protease OmpT from E. coli inactivates antimicrobial peptides and may enhance colonization of the uroepithelium, but its precise function remains unclear. Given OmpT is an outer membrane protease, we hypothesized it may have a role in OMV biogenesis. To further characterize the effect of OmpT on OMV production, a genetic approach using wild type, an ompT deletion mutant and an ompT overexpressing construct in EHEC were employed. ompT gene deletion markedly decreased OMV production and stainable lipid but increased vesicle diameter. Conversely, ompT overexpression profoundly increased OMV biogenesis but decreased stainable lipid, protein content, and vesicle diameter. Alterations in EHEC ompT gene expression have an impact on the biogenesis, composition, and size of OMVs. Changes in ompT gene expression may dynamically alter OMV formation, composition, and diameter in response to different host environments and contribute to cell-free intercellular communication to enhance bacterial growth and survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli ( UPEC) strains are among the most prevalent causative agents of urinary tract infections. To establish infection, UPEC must overcome the bactericidal action of host antimicrobial peptides. Previously, the enterohaemorrhagic E. coli outer membrane protease, OmpT, was shown to degrade and inactivate the human antimicrobial peptide LL-37. This study aims to investigate the involvement of UPEC OmpT in LL-37 degradation. An ompT deletion mutant was generated in the prototypical UPEC strain CFT073. Western blot analysis showed that the OmpT protein level is moderate in CFT073. In agreement, OmpT was shown to partially cleave LL-37. However, no difference in the minimum inhibitory concentration of LL-37 was observed between CFT073 and the ompT mutant. Plasmid complementation of ompT, which led to increased OmpT levels, resulted in complete cleavage of LL-37 and a fourfold increase in the minimum inhibitory concentration. The analysis of other UPEC isolates showed similar OmpT activity levels as CFT073. Although UPEC OmpT can cleave LL-37, we conclude that the low level of OmpT limits its contribution to LL-37 resistance. Collectively, these data suggest that UPEC OmpT is likely accompanied by other LL-37 resistance mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antimicrobial peptides ( AMPs) are present in virtually all organisms and are an ancient and critical component of innate immunity. In mammals, AMPs are present in phagocytic cells, on body surfaces such as skin and mucosa, and in secretions and body fluids such as sweat, saliva, urine, and breast milk, consistent with their role as part of the first line of defense against a wide range of pathogenic microorganisms including bacteria, viruses, and fungi. AMPs are microbicidal and have also been shown to act as immunomodulators with chemoattractant and signaling activities. During the co-evolution of hosts and bacterial pathogens, bacteria have developed the ability to sense and initiate an adaptive response to AMPs to resist their bactericidal activity. Here, we review the various mechanisms used by Gram-negative bacteria to sense and resist AMP-mediated killing. These mechanisms play an important role in bacterial resistance to host-derived AMPs that are encountered during the course of infection. Bacterial resistance to AMPs should also be taken into consideration in the development and use of AMPs as anti-infective agents, for which there is currently a great deal of academic and commercial interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) is a water- and food-borne pathogen that causes hemorrhagic colitis. EHEC uses a type III secretion system (T3SS) to translocate effector proteins that subvert host cell function. T3SS-substrates encoded outside of the locus of enterocyte effacement are important to E. coli pathogenesis. We discovered an EHEC secreted protein, NleF, encoded by z6020 in O-island 71 of E. coli EDL933 that we hypothesized to be a T3SS substrate. Experiments are presented that probe the function of NleF and its role in virulence. Immunoblotting of secreted and translocated proteins suggest that NleF is secreted by the T3SS and is translocated into host cells in vitro where it localizes to the host cytoplasm. Infection of HeLa cells with E. coli possessing or lacking nleF and transient expression of NleF-GFP via transfection did not reveal a significant role for NleF in several assays of bacterial adherence, host cytoskeletal remodeling, or host protein secretion. However, competitive coinfection of mice with Citrobacter rodentium strains possessing or lacking nleF suggested a contribution of NleF to bacterial colonization. Challenge of gnotobiotic piglets also revealed a role for NleF in colonization of the piglet colon and rectoanal junction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]