This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have identified how certain dangerous bacteria spread. They studied chain-like adherence pattern (CLAP) varieties of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), finding that single bacteria attach to a surface and elongate before dividing, producing chains without ever separating.
Under flow, chain ends that are torn off can attach elsewhere, dispersing the strain. They identified a new gene family mediating CLAP formation, illuminating new aspects of infection mechanisms and potential treatments. The research is published in the journal Nature Communications.
Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are harmful bacteria responsible for serious food poisoning outbreaks, with a particular risk of severe disease and death in young children and older adults. Most strains feature the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE) within their genome, giving bacteria the ability to create lesions in the intestinal tract that help them attach and grow. While this is a major pathway by which STEC strains infect a host, LEE-negative strains, which have also been discovered, can be just as deadly, as demonstrated in a 2011 outbreak in Germany involving the STEC strain O104:H4.
Since they lack the molecular machinery conferred by LEE, scientists have yet to fully understand how these strains cause infection and spread. To tackle this challenge, a team at Tokyo Metropolitan University led by doctoral candidate Yuto Kotaka studied chain-like adherence pattern (CLAP) varieties of LEE-negative STEC strains. In O91, a frequently isolated LEE-negative strain in Japan, the European Union and the United Kingdom, bacteria were found to form threads or chains, but the way they are formed and dispersed was not understood.
In recent work, the team observed how these chains formed under a microscope. Instead of aggregating, they found that single bacteria could attach to a surface, elongate and then divide without individual bacteria ever separating. Crucially, they found that environmental factors that might prevent bacteria from developing a foothold, such as strong flow, could be used by the bacteria to disperse.
For chains under flow, the team saw that the ends of a thread were torn off while leaving part of the original chain intact. This separated segment was carried downstream, where it could attach to a surface again and continue to grow. Thus, flow can form part of the strain's surface-colonization strategy over wider areas.
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