Special Issue "Factors Governing the Persistence, Infection, Virulence and Treatment of Shiga Toxin-Encoding E. coli (STEC)"

A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Bacterial Toxins".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2021.

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Gerald B. Koudelka
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Guest Editor
Department of Biological Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA
Interests: Evolution, distribution and role of exotoxin-encoding bacteria and phages in the environment; Identification and characterization of bacterial anti-predator defense mechanisms; Biotic and abiotic factors that govern the stability lambdoid prophages; DNA structure effects on protein-DNA Interactions
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Special Issue Information

Shiga toxins (Stx) are the main virulence factor of a group of Shiga toxin-encoding E. coli (STEC) strains that cause severe human diseases, such as hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome. These toxins are encoded by prophages present in all STEC. Stx synthesis and release and therefore STEC-mediated disease require activation of prophage growth. STEC are implicated in over 10,000 cases of human illness annually in the United States alone, and infection with STEC carries a mortality rate as high as 10%. Shiga toxin intoxication is the number one cause of acute renal failure in children. Alarmingly, the incidence of Shiga toxin-related illness is increasing; in the two decades subsequent to its first emergence, outbreaks of disease caused by STEC increased >20-fold. In addition to contaminated food, STEC outbreaks are increasingly associated with environmental contamination of water. Despite the increasing severity and incidence of STEC-mediated disease, and potential susceptibility of STEC to antimicrobial therapy, current guidelines urge that all antibiotics be avoided in life-threatening EHEC infections. Hence, there are no clear treatments for STEC infection.

This Special Issue will focus on both deducing the factors that drive the increasing incidence of STEC infection and providing insight into new prevention and treatment regimes. This issue will include studies of bacterial and phage factors that mediate environmental persistence, increased human infection, increased STEC virulence, and how these factors can be exploited to provide new strategies to combat STEC infection.

Prof. Gerald B. Koudelka
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Shiga toxin
  • Bacteria
  • Bacteriophage
  • STEC
  • E. coli
  • Virulence
  • Diversity
  • Antibiotics
  • SOS
  • Gene expression
  • Pathogenesis
  • Infection

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Psychoactive Drugs Induce the SOS Response and Shiga Toxin Production in Escherichia coli
Toxins 2021, 13(7), 437; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13070437 - 23 Jun 2021
Viewed by 621
Abstract
Several classes of non-antibiotic drugs, including psychoactive drugs, proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and others, appear to have strong antimicrobial properties. We considered whether psychoactive drugs induce the SOS response in E. coli bacteria and, consequently, induce Shiga toxins in Shiga-toxigenic [...] Read more.
Several classes of non-antibiotic drugs, including psychoactive drugs, proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and others, appear to have strong antimicrobial properties. We considered whether psychoactive drugs induce the SOS response in E. coli bacteria and, consequently, induce Shiga toxins in Shiga-toxigenic E. coli (STEC). We measured the induction of an SOS response using a recA-lacZ E. coli reporter strain, as RecA is an early, reliable, and quantifiable marker for activation of the SOS stress response pathway. We also measured the production and release of Shiga toxin 2 (Stx2) from a classic E. coli O157:H7 strain, derived from a food-borne outbreak due to spinach. Some, but not all, serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and antipsychotic drugs induced an SOS response. The use of SSRIs is widespread and increasing; thus, the use of these antidepressants could account for some cases of hemolytic-uremic syndrome due to STEC and is not attributable to antibiotic administration. SSRIs could have detrimental effects on the normal intestinal microbiome in humans. In addition, as SSRIs are resistant to environmental breakdown, they could have effects on microbial communities, including aquatic ecosystems, long after they have left the human body. Full article
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Article
Genes Encoding the Virulence and the Antimicrobial Resistance in Enterotoxigenic and Shiga-toxigenic E. coli Isolated from Diarrheic Calves
Toxins 2020, 12(6), 383; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins12060383 - 10 Jun 2020
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 1454
Abstract
Calf diarrhea is one of the considerable infectious diseases in calves, which results in tremendous economic losses globally. To determine the prevalence of Shiga-toxigenic E. coli (STEC) and Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) incriminated in calf diarrhea, with special reference to Shiga- toxins genes [...] Read more.
Calf diarrhea is one of the considerable infectious diseases in calves, which results in tremendous economic losses globally. To determine the prevalence of Shiga-toxigenic E. coli (STEC) and Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) incriminated in calf diarrhea, with special reference to Shiga- toxins genes (stx1 and stx2) and enterotoxins genes (lt and sta) that govern their pathogenesis, as well as the virulence genes; eaeA (intimin) and f41(fimbrial adhesion), and the screening of their antibiogram and antimicrobial resistance genes; aadB, sul1, and bla-TEM, a total of 274 fecal samples were collected (April 2018–Feb 2019) from diarrheic calves at different farms in El-Sharqia Governorate, Egypt. The bacteriological examination revealed that the prevalence of E. coli in diarrheic calves was 28.8%. The serotyping of the isolated E. coli revealed 7 serogroups; O26, O128, O111, O125, O45, O119 and O91. Furthermore, the Congo red binding test was carried out, where 89.8% of the examined strains (n = 71) were positive. The antibiogram of the isolated strains was investigated; the majority of E. coli serotypes exhibit multidrug resistance (MDR) to four antimicrobial agents; neomycin, gentamycin, streptomycin, and amikacin. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect the prevalence of the virulence genes; stx1, stx2 lt, sta, f41 and eaeA, as well as the antimicrobial resistance genes; aadB, sul1, and bla-TEM. The prevalence of STEC was 20.2% (n = 16), while the prevalence of ETEC was 30.4% (n = 24). Briefly, the Shiga toxins genes; stx1 and stx2, are the most prevalent virulence genes associated with STEC, which are responsible for the pathogenesis of the disease and helped by the intimin gene (eaeA). In addition, the lt gene is the most prevalent enterotoxin gene accompanied by the ETEC strains, either alone or in combination with sta and/or f41 genes. The majority of pathogenic E. coli incriminated in calf diarrhea possesses the aadB resistance gene, followed by the sul1 gene. Enrofloxacin, florfenicol, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, and ampicillin-sulbactam, are the most effective antimicrobial agents against the isolated STEC and ETEC strains. Full article
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