Cell & Molecular Sciences, The James Hutton Institute, Dundee, UK.
Methods Mol Biol. 2021;2291:163-175. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1339-9_7.
Plants represent alternative or secondary hosts for Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), enabling transmission of the pathogens through the food chain on horticultural crops. This becomes a public health concern for plants that are eaten raw or minimally processed, such as leafy salad and fruits. STEC actively interact with plants as hosts, and so to determine the mechanistic basis to the interaction, it is necessary to assess STEC gene function in planta. Here, we describe analysis of an STEC biofilm component, curli, that plays a role in STEC colony formation in plant leaves. It also serves as a suitable example of the approaches required for qualitative and quantitative assessment of functional host colonization traits.
植物是产志贺毒素大肠杆菌（STEC）的替代或次要宿主，使病原体能够通过园艺作物的食物链传播。对于那些生吃或稍加加工的植物，如叶状沙拉和水果，这成为了一个公共卫生关注点。STEC 积极地与植物宿主相互作用，因此要确定相互作用的机制基础，有必要在植物体内评估 STEC 的基因功能。在这里，我们描述了对 STEC 生物膜成分卷曲菌的分析，它在 STEC 在植物叶片上形成菌落的过程中发挥作用。它也是定性和定量评估功能宿主定植特性所需方法的一个合适范例。
