Luo Meng, Lai Linhui, Wu Zailin, Ren Xiaoli, Zhao Jiacheng, Liu Hongmei, Long Yaohang
Biochemistry Teaching and Research Section, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Guizhou Medical University, Anshun, China.
School of Public Health, The Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Monitoring and Disease Control, Ministry of Education, Guizhou Medical University, Anshun, China.
Front Microbiol. 2025 Mar 26;16:1548808. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1548808. eCollection 2025.
() is a facultative anaerobic, gram-negative bacterium that can be utilized for the biological control of pests. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenicity of E. cancerogenus in insect hosts remain largely unexplored.
In this study, the model was employed to investigate the pathogenicity of strain ECL7, a bacterium pathogenic to silkworms, through whole-genome sequencing, 16S rDNA sequencing, and transcriptome analysis.
The results revealed that ECL7 harbors virulence genes associated with biofilm formation, adhesion, type III secretion system (T3SS), type VI secretion system (T6SS), and other factors, which collectively lead to damage to the peritrophic matrix (PM) and intestinal epithelial cells of the silkworm midgut following infection, and reduced silkworm larval survival rates and inhibited their growth and development. Additionally, ECL7 infection altered the composition and abundance of intestinal microorganisms, with and becoming dominant species. ECL7 also stimulated the expression of genes related to the Toll and IMD immune signaling pathways, resulting in the upregulation of antimicrobial peptide-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Furthermore, transcriptomic analysis revealed an upregulation of DEGs associated with oxidative stress in response to ECL7 infection.
This study provides valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the interaction between and silkworms. The findings contribute to the prevention and control of infections caused by this bacterium in sericulture production and offer novel ideas for the potential application of in pest biological control.
（某菌名）是一种兼性厌氧革兰氏阴性菌，可用于害虫的生物防治。然而，致癌埃希氏菌在昆虫宿主中的致病分子机制在很大程度上仍未被探索。
在本研究中，采用（具体模型名称未给出）模型，通过全基因组测序、16S rDNA测序和转录组分析，研究对家蚕致病的菌株ECL7的致病性。
结果显示，ECL7含有与生物膜形成、黏附、III型分泌系统（T3SS）、VI型分泌系统（T6SS）及其他因子相关的毒力基因，这些基因共同导致感染后家蚕中肠围食膜（PM）和肠上皮细胞受损，家蚕幼虫存活率降低，生长发育受到抑制。此外，ECL7感染改变了肠道微生物的组成和丰度，（某些菌名未给出）成为优势菌种。ECL7还刺激了与Toll和IMD免疫信号通路相关的基因表达，导致抗菌肽相关差异表达基因（DEGs）上调。此外，转录组分析显示，响应ECL7感染，与氧化应激相关的DEGs上调。
本研究为（某菌名）与家蚕相互作用的分子机制提供了有价值的见解。这些发现有助于在养蚕生产中预防和控制由该细菌引起的感染，并为（某菌名）在害虫生物防治中的潜在应用提供新思路。
