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Updated: Apr 30, 2026

Invasion of Human Cells by a Bacterial Pathogen
Published on: March 21, 2011
The ability of an attaching and effacing pathogen to trigger localized actin assembly contributes to virulence by
Emily M Mallick1, John J Garber, Vijay K Vanguri
1Department of Microbiology and Physiological Systems, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, MA, 01655, USA.
Abstract:
Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) colonizes the intestine and causes bloody diarrhoea and kidney failure by producing Shiga toxin. Upon binding intestinal cells, EHEC triggers a change in host cell shape, generating actin 'pedestals' beneath bound bacteria. To investigate the importance of pedestal formation to disease, we infected genetically engineered mice incapable of supporting pedestal formation by an EHEC-like mouse pathogen, or wild type mice with a mutant of that pathogen incapable of generating pedestals. We found that pedestal formation promotes attachment of bacteria to the intestinal mucosa and vastly increases the severity of Shiga toxin-mediated disease.
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