Shiga Toxin Expression, Distribution, and Its Role in the Environment 英文参考文献.docVIP

Toxins 2011, 3, 608-625; doi:10.3390/toxins3060608 OPEN ACCESS toxins ISSN 2072-6651 /journal/toxins Review Shiga Toxin: Expression, Distribution, and Its Role in the Environment Steven A. Mauro 1 and Gerald B. Koudelka 2,* 1 Department of Biological Sciences, Mercyhurst College, Erie, PA 16546, USA; E-Mail: smauro@ 2 Department of Biological Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: Koudelka@; Tel.: +1-716-645-2363 ext. 158; Fax: +1-716-645-2975. Received: 3 May 2011; in revised form: 9 June 2011 / Accepted: 9 June 2011 / Published: 14 June 2011 Abstract: In this review, we highlight recent work that has increased our understanding of the production and distribution of Shiga toxin in the environment. Specifically, we review studies that offer an expanded view of environmental reservoirs for Shiga toxin producing microbes in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. We then relate the abundance of Shiga toxin in the environment to work that demonstrates that the genetic mechanisms underlying the production of Shiga toxin genes are modified and embellished beyond the classical microbial gene regulatory paradigms in a manner that apparently ―fine tunes‖ the trigger to modulate the amount of toxin produced. Last, we highlight several recent studies examining microbe/protist interactions that postulate an answer to the outstanding question of why microbes might harbor and express Shiga toxin genes in the environment. Keywords: Shiga toxin; bacteriophage; E. coli O157 1. Shiga Toxin Shiga toxin (Stx) is best known as an essential virulence factor in human disease mediated by Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7. This strain was responsible for the first documented outbreak of haemorrhagic colitis in the US in 1982 [1]. Since then, the incidence of E. coli O157:H7-related disease has increased annually, with about 73,000 cases