Control of virulence expression in enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli by the master regulator Rns, and targeting Rns for inhibition of bacterial virulence

Abstract

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a major cause of diarrhoea, particularly for children in developing countries, and is the most common cause of travellers' diarrhoea. The ETEC pathotype is defined by the presence of at least one colonisation factor (CF) and either or both of two toxins, the heat-labile (LT) and the heat-stable (ST) enterotoxins. In addition, a variety of accessory virulence factors have been identified that aid in pathogenesis, but are not present in every strain of ETEC. CFs are antigenically diverse and immunologically distinct, but many are transcriptionally controlled by a conserved AraC-like regulator, Rns. Rns activates transcription of its target genes by..