Our new paper from the lab - led by Sergio Arrendondo-Alonso (University of Oslo), George Blundell-Hunter (UCL), Joey Fu (Technician in our lab) and Rebecca Gladstone (University of Oslo) - was published in June in Nature Communications. In collaboration with Jukka Corander (Wellcome Sanger Institute & University of Oslo) and Peter Taylor (UCL School of Pharmacy). Congratulations to all involved.
Escherichia coli can cause life-threatening invasive infections in humans including bloodstream infection, pyelonephritis and meningitis. E. coli, like many human bacterial pathogens, express capsules at their surface. This promotes their colonization and persistence in the gastrointestinal, respiratory, and urogenital tracts, and promotes their capacity to cause invasive infections. The K1 capsule of E. coli has repeatedly been linked to invasive infections. However, we lack basic knowledge of the prevalence, evolution and functional properties of the K1 capsule at the population level. In this project, we assessed the prevalence, distribution, and evolution of the K1 capsule in E. coli populations by considering a global dataset of 5065 clinical isolates. We subsequently investigated the functional properties of the K1 capsule across the genetically diverse population and assessed whether targeting the K1 capsule offers a refined therapeutic approach to control or prevent E. coli invasive infections.
We found that
25% of E. coli causing bloodstream infections carry genes encoding the K1 capsule
The genetic locus has emerged in at least 4 different E. coli phylogroups over the last 500 years
The K1 capsule is expressed and suppresses the killing of E. coli in human serum.
The use of an enzyme to strip the K1 capsule from the E. coli surface can resensitize genetically diverse E. coli strains to human serum.
In collaboration with Sergio Arredondo-Alonso, George Blundell-Hunter, Zuyi Fu, Rebecca A. Gladstone, Alfred Fillol-Salom, Jessica Loraine, Elaine Cloutman-Green, Pål J. Johnsen, Ørjan Samuelsen, Anna K. Pöntinen, François Cléon, Susana Chavez-Bueno, Miguel A. De la Cruz, Miguel A. Ares, Manivanh Vongsouvath, Agnieszka Chmielarczyk, Carolyne Horner, Nigel Klein, Alan McNally, Joice N. Reis, José R. Penadés, Nicholas R. Thomson, Jukka Corander, Peter W. Taylor.
Evolutionary and functional history of the Escherichia coli K1 capsule
Arredondo-Alonso S, Blundell-Hunter G, Fu J, Gladstone RA, Fillol-Salom A, Loraine J, Cloutman-Green E, Johnsen PJ, Samuelsen Ø, Pöntinen AK, Cléon F, Chavez-Bueno S, De la Cruz MA, Ares MA, Vongsouvath M, Chmielarczyk A, Horner C, Klein N, McNally A, Reis JN, Penadés JR, Thomson NR, Corander J, Taylor PW & McCarthy AJ
Nat Commun. 2023 Jun 15;14(1):3294. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-39052-w.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-39052-w#Abs1.
Image of E. coli by Tiago Costa @ Imperial College London
www.imperial.ac.uk/people/t.costa
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