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Cross‐protection phenomenon in Escherichia coli strains harbouring cytotoxic necrotizing factors and cytolethal distending toxins
Author(s) -
Rowe M.T.,
Kirk R.B.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
letters in applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.698
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1472-765X
pISSN - 0266-8254
DOI - 10.1046/j.1472-765x.2001.00856.x
Subject(s) - escherichia coli , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , toxin , cytotoxic t cell , bacteria , cytolethal distending toxin , microbial toxins , genetics , gene , in vitro
M.T. ROWE AND R.B. KIRK. 2001 . Micro‐organisms which are subjected to non‐lethal stress can exhibit significantly greater resistance when both the same or an unrelated stress is subsequently reapplied. This latter phenomenon is termed ‘cross‐protection’. In experiments using three strains of Escherichia coli harbouring cytotoxic necrotizing factor 1 and/or cytolethal distending toxin all three exhibited significantly greater ( P < 0·05) resistance to salt (20% w/v) or heat (56 °C for up to 75 min) when prestressed with lactic acid (pH 4). This work indicates that the cross‐protection phenomenon should be taken into account when devising food process operations designed to minimize the risk posed by these pathogens.