Microarray-Based Screening of Differentially Expressed Genes of E. coli O157:H7 Sakai during Preharvest Survival on Butterhead Lettuce

Inge Van der Linden, Bart Cottyn, Mieke Uyttendaele, Geertrui Vlaemynck, Marc Heyndrickx, Martine Maes and Nicola Holden
Additional contact information
Inge Van der Linden: Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), Plant Sciences Unit—Crop Protection B. Van Gansberghelaan 96, Merelbeke B-9820, Belgium
Bart Cottyn: Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), Plant Sciences Unit—Crop Protection B. Van Gansberghelaan 96, Merelbeke B-9820, Belgium
Mieke Uyttendaele: Ghent University (UGent), Department of Food Safety and Food Quality, Laboratory of Food Microbiology and Food Preservation, Coupure links 653, Ghent B-9000, Belgium
Geertrui Vlaemynck: Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), Food Sciences Unit—Food Safety Brusselsesteenweg 370, Melle B-9090, Belgium
Marc Heyndrickx: Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), Food Sciences Unit—Food Safety Brusselsesteenweg 370, Melle B-9090, Belgium
Martine Maes: Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), Plant Sciences Unit—Crop Protection B. Van Gansberghelaan 96, Merelbeke B-9820, Belgium
Nicola Holden: The James Hutton Institute, Cell and Molecular Sciences, Human and Animal Pathogens on Plants, Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA, UK

Agriculture, 2016, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-22

Abstract: Numerous outbreaks of Escherichia coli O157:H7 have been linked to the consumption of leafy vegetables. However, up to the present, little has been known about E. coli O157:H7’s adaptive responses to survival on actively growing (and thus responsive) plants. In this study, whole genome transcriptional profiles were generated from E. coli O157:H7 cells (isolate Sakai, stx -) one hour and two days after inoculation on the leaves of growing butterhead lettuce, and compared with an inoculum control. A total of 273 genes of E. coli O157:H7 Sakai (5.04% of the whole genome) were significantly induced or repressed by at least two-fold ( p < 0.01) in at least one of the analyzed time points in comparison with the control. Several E. coli O157:H7 genes associated with oxidative stress and antimicrobial resistance were upregulated, including the iron-sulfur cluster and the multiple antibiotic resistance ( mar ) operon, whereas the Shiga toxin virulence genes were downregulated. Nearly 40% of the genes with significantly different expression were poorly characterized genes or genes with unknown functions. These genes are of special interest for future research as they may play an important role in the pathogens’ adaptation to a lifestyle on plants. In conclusion, these findings suggest that the pathogen actively interacts with the plant environment by adapting its metabolism and responding to oxidative stress.

Keywords: Escherichia coli O157:H7; lettuce; gene expression; preharvest (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/6/1/6/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/6/1/6/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:6:y:2016:i:1:p:6-:d:62922

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().