Genome project finds the 'triggers' for E. co...( ers to help identify this in the field....)

James Kaper, a microbiologist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and national expert on E. coli infections, says the paper will help in vaccine development and in creating new diagnostic tests. Preventive measures are extremely important with E coli O157:H7 because of its low infectious dosage and relative resistance to heat.

"The species E. coli is remarkably versatile. It can be found normally in human intestines and is also capable of causing a variety of infections, from urinary tract infections to diarrhea to neonatal meningitis," Kaper says. "This paper will provide important insights into how a pathogen becomes a pathogen."

This completed genome adds to a growing list of medically important microbes that have been fully sequenced, including tuberculosis, gonorrhea and cholera. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), says the national campaign will lead to better methods of diagnosing and treating an array of disease-causing pathogens.

The project was funded by NIAID, an arm of the National Institutes of Health; the Department of Energy; the National Science Foundation; and a variety of foundations devoted to biomedical research.

Other UW-Madison contributors include: Guy Plunkett and Val Burland, Genome Center scientists; genomics professors David Schwartz and Thomas Anantharaman; and bacteriology professor Rodney Welch.

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Contact: Nicole Perna
perna@ahabs.wisc.edu
608-262-0728
University of Wisconsin-Madison
23-Jan-2001