Open AccessThe widespread occurrence of the enterohemolysin gene ehlyA among environmental strains of Escherichia coli
Author(s) -
Boczek Laura A.,
Johnson Clifford H.,
Rice Eugene W.,
Kinkle Brian K.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2005.00035.x
Subject(s) - intimin , escherichia coli , virulence , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , virulence factor , shiga toxin , escherichia , toxin , enterobacteriaceae , genetics
The putative virulence factor enterohemolysin, encoded by the ehlyA gene, has been closely associated with the pathogenic enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) group. Escherichia coli isolates from effluents from seven geographically dispersed municipal wastewater treatment plants were screened for the presence of enterohemolysin. A total of 338 E. coli isolates were found to express the ehlyA gene. However, none of the isolates contained the toxin‐encoding genes ( stxA or stxB ) associated with EHEC. Two of the 338 isolates possessed the virulence factor intimin, encoded by the eae gene. These findings suggest that the ehlyA gene may be widely distributed among non‐EHEC isolates in the environment.