The yjbEFGH locus in Escherichia co/i K-i 2 is an operon encoding proteins involved in exopolysaccharide production.

The article shows that the genes yjbE, yjbF, yjbG and yjbH are transcribed as a single operon and it is confirmed that the expression of this operon is controlled by the Rcs phosphorelay. The RcsCDB phosphorelay was originally identified as the main regulator of colanic acid biosynthesis in Escherichia coli K-12. The article provides evidence that the overexpression of yjbEFGH affects colony morphology.