Analysis of the Virulence of Uropathogenic Strain CFT073 in the Murine Urinary Tract.

This urinary tract infection model was used to monitor the efficacy of a new virulence factor of the uropathogenic strain CFT073 . The new virulence factor which we designated TIR-containing protein C (TcpC) blocks Toll-like receptor signaling and the NLRP3 inflammasome signaling cascade by interacting with key components of both pattern recognition receptor systems ( Cirl , 2008 ; Waldhuber , 2016 ). We infected wild type and knock-out mice with wildtype CFT073 and a mutant CFT073 strain lacking . This protocol describes how the mice were infected, how CFT073 was prepared and how the infection was monitored. The protocol was derived from our previously published work and allowed us to demonstrate that TcpC is a powerful virulence factor by increasing the bacterial burden of CFT073 in the urine and kidneys. Moreover, TcpC was responsible for the development of kidney abscesses since infection of mice with wildtype but not -deficient CFT073 mutants caused this complication.