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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, December 2000, p. 4343-4350, Vol. 38, No. 12
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Citrobacter rodentium, the Causative
Agent of Transmissible Murine Colonic Hyperplasia, Exhibits Clonality:
Synonymy of C. rodentium and Mouse-Pathogenic
Escherichia coli
Steven A.
Luperchio,1
Joseph V.
Newman,1
Charles A.
Dangler,2,
Mark D.
Schrenzel,2,
Don J.
Brenner,3
Arnold G.
Steigerwalt,3 and
David B.
Schauer1,2,*
Division of Bioengineering and Environmental
Health1 and Division of Comparative
Medicine,2 Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, and Meningitis and
Special Pathogens Branch, Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases,
National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 303333
Received 19 June 2000/Returned for modification 24 August
2000/Accepted 29 September 2000
Citrobacter rodentium (formerly Citrobacter
freundii biotype 4280 and Citrobacter genomospecies
9) was described on the basis of biochemical characterization and
DNA-DNA hybridization data and is the only Citrobacter
species known to possess virulence factors homologous to those of the
human pathogens enteropathogenic Escherichia coli and
enterohemorrhagic E. coli. These virulence factors are
encoded on the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE), a pathogenicity
island required for the characteristic attaching and effacing (AE)
pathology seen in infection with these three pathogens. C. rodentium, which apparently infects only mice, provides a useful
animal model for studying the molecular basis of AE pathology. No work
has been done to assess differences in pathogenicity between C. rodentium isolates from diverse sources. Here, we report the examination of 15 C. rodentium isolates using a battery of
genetic and biochemical approaches. No differences were observed
between the isolates by repetitive-element sequence-based PCR analysis, biochemical analysis, and possession of LEE-specific virulence factors.
These data suggest that members of the species are clonal. We further
characterized an atypical E. coli strain from Japan called
mouse-pathogenic E. coli (MPEC) that, in our hands, caused the same disease as C. rodentium. Applying the same battery
of tests, we found that MPEC possesses LEE-encoded virulence factors and is indistinguishable from the previously characterized C. rodentium isolate DBS100. These results demonstrate that MPEC is
a misclassified C. rodentium isolate and that members of
this species are clonal and represent the only known attaching and effacing bacterial pathogen of mice.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: MIT, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Room 56-787B, Cambridge, MA 02139. Phone: (617)
253-8113. Fax: (617) 258-0225. E-mail: schauer{at}mit.edu.

Present address: Bristol-Myers Squibb PRI, Pennington, NJ
08534.

Present address: Zoological Society of San Diego, San Diego, CA
92101.
Journal of Clinical Microbiology, December 2000, p. 4343-4350, Vol. 38, No. 12
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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