Plasmids of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli H10407: evidence for two heat-stable enterotoxin genes and a conjugal transfer system.

Three species of plasmids, associated with virulence and conjugal transfer, were identified in a clinically isolated enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli strain, H10407 (serotype O78:H11). pCS1, a non-self-transmissible plasmid species with a molecular weight of 62 X 10(6) and a 47 mol% guanine-plus-cytosine content, specified colonization factor antigen I and heat-stable enterotoxin (ST) production, as reported by others previously. A second non-self-transmissible plasmid species, designated pJY11, with a molecular weight of 42 X 10(6) and a 51 mol% guanine-plus-cytosine content, specified ST and heat-labile enterotoxin production and manifested T5/T6 phage restriction. The third plasmid species, pTRA1, also had a molecular weight of 42 X 10(6) and had a guanine-plus-cytosine content of 51 mol%; this species was self-transmissible and promoted transfer of both pCS1 and pJY11 to other bacterial cells. pCS1 may have originated from species of bacteria with a lower guanine-plus-cytosine content than E. coli. Finally, although demonstrating some heterogeneity with each other, both STs encoded by pCS1 and pJY11 belonged to the STa group.