Characterization of two virulence proteins secreted by rabbit enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, EspA and EspB, whose maximal expression is sensitive to host body temperature.

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and rabbit EPEC (RDEC-1) cause unique histopathological features on intestinal mucosa, including attaching/effacing (A/E) lesions. Due to the human specificity of EPEC, RDEC-1 has been used as an animal model to study EPEC pathogenesis. At least two of the previously identified EPEC-secreted proteins, EspA and EspB, are required for triggering host epithelial signal transduction pathways, intimate adherence, and A/E lesions. However, the functions of these secreted proteins and their roles in pathogenesis have not been characterized. To investigate the function of EspA and EspB in RDEC-1, the espA and espB genes were cloned and their sequences were compared to that of EPEC O127. The EspA proteins showed high similarity (88.5% identity), while EspB was heterogeneous in internal regions (69.8% identity). However, RDEC-1 EspB was identical to that of enterohemorrhagic E. coli serotype O26. Mutations in RDEC-1 espA and espB revealed that the corresponding RDEC-1 gene products are essential for triggering of host signal transduction pathways and invasion into HeLa cells. Complementation with plasmids containing EPEC espA or/and espB genes into RDEC-1 mutant strains demonstrated that they were functionally interchangeable, although the EPEC proteins mediated higher levels of invasion. Furthermore, maximal expression of RDEC-1 and EPEC-secreted proteins occurred at their respective host body temperatures, which may contribute to the lack of EPEC infectivity in rabbits.