Antimicrobial resistance and gene regulation in Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli from Egyptian children with diarrhoea: Similarities and differences
Radwa Abdelwahab, Muhammad Yasir, Rita E. Godfrey, Gabrielle S. Christie, Sarah J. Element, Faye Saville, Sedky H.A. Hassan, Entsar H. Ahmed, Nagla H. Abu-Faddan, Enas Daef, Stephen Busby, Douglas F. Browning
Abstract
, which encodes for a repressor of AggR, Aar. Since biofilm formation is the hallmark of EAEC infection, we examined the effect of Aar overexpression on both biofilm formation and AggR-dependent gene expression. We show that whilst Aar has a minimal effect on AggR-dependent transcription it is able to completely disrupt biofilm formation, suggesting that Aar affects these two processes differently. Taken together, our results suggest a model for the induction of virulence gene expression in EAEC that may explain the ubiquity of EAEC in both sick and healthy individuals.