Study on the virulence of an ompT deletion mutant of Escherichia coli causing neonatal meningitis / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the virulence role of ompT of Escherichia coli in the patho-genesis of neonatal meningitis .Methods Adhesive abilities of the parent strain E 44 and the isogenic ompT-deletion mutant strain ( E44 ∶ΔompT) to human brain microvascular endothelial cells were evaluated in in vitro model.Low-copy-number plasmid pST containing ompT locus and point mutant plasmid pST 85 were transferred into E44 ∶ΔompT to construct the complemented mutant strain , and its adhesive ability was ana-lyzed.Influences of ompT deletion on E44 strain in its ability of bacterial intestinal colonization and ability of penetrating the blood-brain barrier were determined . Results In comparison with the parent strain , E44 ∶ΔompT strain showed significantly impaired adhesive ability to human brain microvascular endothelial cells, which could be partly restored by inserting the complementary plasmids of pST and pST 85.Deletion of the ompT did not affect Escherichia coli K1 in normal intestinal colonization in in vivo model.E44 ∶ΔompT strain could induce bacteremia , which was similar to that induced by the parent strain , but its ability of crossing the blood-brain barrier was significantly declined .Conclusion The study demonstrate that ompT plays an important role as the virulence element of Escherichia coli in binding to brain microvascular endothe-lial cells and penetrating the blood-brain barrier .Further study should be performed to investigate the influ-ences of OmpT proteinase on the virulence of Escherichia coil.