Pic, an autotransporter protein secreted by different pathogens of Enterobacteriaceae family, is a potent mucus secretagogue.
- A hallmark of enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) infection is a formation of biofilm, which comprises a mucus layer with immersed bacteria in the intestine of patients. While studying the mucinolytic activity of Pic in an in vivo system such as the rat ileal loops, we surprisingly found that EAEC induced a hypersecretion of mucus, which is accompanied by an increase in the number of mucus containing goblet cells. Interestingly, an isogenic pic mutant (EAECDeltapic) was unable to cause this mucus hypersecretion. Furthermore, purified Pic was also able to induce intestinal mucus hypersecretion and this effect was abolished when Pic was heat denatured. Site-directed mutagenesis in the serine protease catalytic residue of Pic showed that, unlike the mucinolytic activity, secretagogue activity did not depend on this catalytic serine protease motif. Other pathogens harboring the pic gene, such as Shigella flexneri and uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC), also showed similar results to those caused by EAEC and constructions of isogenic pic mutants in S. flexneri and UPEC confirmed this secretagogue activity. Thus, Pic mucinase is responsible for one of the pathophysiologic features of the diarrhea mediated by EAEC and the mucoid diarrhea induced by S. flexneri.
- Document Type:
- Reference
- Product Catalog Number:
- 06-570
- Product Catalog Name:
- Anti-phospho-Histone H3 (Ser10) Antibody, Mitosis Marker