Characterization of DNA Fragments Encoding Fimbriae of the Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Strain KS71

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Abstract
Recombinant plasmids were constructed that expressed the KS71A, KS71B and KS71C fimbrial antigens of the pyelonephritogenic E. coli strain KS71 (O4:K12) in E. coli HB101. The KS71C-encoding genes were located on a 6.4 kilobase (kb) HindIII-XhoI fragment obtained from the recombinant cosmid pKTH145 that expresses this antigen. Spontaneus KS71C- mutants were isolated that contained a 0.8 kb insert in a specific restriction fragment of KS71C-encoding recombinant plasmids. The KS71B-encoding segment was located on a 11.5 kb deletable DNA fragment of recombinant cosmid pKTH144. A DNA fragment encoding the KS71A fimbria was obtained on a 12 kb EcoRI fragment of the recombinant cosmid expressing this antigen in E. coli HB101 and closely resembled the KS71B-encoding fragment. In the recombinant cosmid, the KS71B-expressing region was flanked by homologous DNA segments. A similar stretch of DNA was found close to the KS71A-expressing DNA region.