A pair of School of Medicine scientists have revealed how E. coli seeks out the most oxygen-free crevices of your colon to cause the worst infection possible.
A pair of School of Medicine scientists have revealed how E. coli seeks out the most oxygen-free crevices of your colon to cause the worst infection possible. The discovery could one day help doctors prevent the infection from taking hold by allowing E. coli bacteria to pass harmlessly through your body.
The new discovery shows just how the foodborne pathogen knows where and when to begin colonizing the colon on its way to making you sick. By recognizing the low-oxygen environment of the large intestine, the dangerous bacterium gives itself the best odds of establishing a robust infection – one that is punishing for the host.
“Bacterial pathogens typically colonize a specific tissue in the host. Therefore, as part of their infection strategies, bacterial pathogens precisely time deployment of proteins and toxins to these specific colonization niches in the human host. This allows the pathogens to save energy and avoid detection by our immune systems and ultimately cause disease,” said researcher Melissa Kendall, PhD, of UVA’s Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology. “By knowing how bacterial pathogens sense where they are in the body, we may one day be able to prevent E. coli, as well as other pathogens, from knowing where it is inside a human host and allow it to pass through the body without causing an infection.”
Read more at: University of Virginia Health System
UVA's Melissa Kendall (left) and Elizabeth M. Melson have revealed how E. coli knows how to cause the worst infections possible. (Photo Credit: Dan Addison | UVA Health)
