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Distribution of msDNAs among serotypes of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli strains
Author(s) -
Lim D.,
Gomes T. A. T.,
Maas W. K.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1990.tb00548.x
Subject(s) - biology , serotype , dna , microbiology and biotechnology , enteropathogenic escherichia coli , escherichia coli , reverse transcriptase , virology , rna , gel electrophoresis , gene , genetics
Summary A genetic element, called a retron, is present in certain Escherichia coli strains. It consists of genes for the production of a covalently linked DNA‐RNA compound and a reverse transcriptase. The presence of a retron can be detected by testing for a satellite DNA band by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. This DNA band consists of the DNA portion of the DNA–RNA compound and is called msDNA (multicopy single‐stranded DNA). In a survey of intestinal E. coli isolates we detected msDNAs in classical enteropathogenic (EPEC) strains and in strains with aggregative adherence to tissue‐culture cells (AA), but not in enteroinvasive (EIEC) and enterotoxigenic (ETEC) strains. Among 76 EPEC strains belonging to 14 different serotypes, msDNA was found to be present in 7 serotypes. In total, five different types of msDNA were found, although within each serotype, the msDNAs were the same. These results suggest that different retrons are clonally inherited.