New leads on mechanisms that confer virulence to E.coli-type bacteria

A team headed by scientists from the IRB Barcelona reports how the protein Ler, which is found in pathogenic bacteria, interacts with certain DNA sequences, thereby activating numerous genes responsible for virulence, which bacteria then exploit to infect human cells. Ler is present in pathogenic Escherichia coli strains, such as the one that caused a deadly infectious outbreak in Germany last May. The study is published in the scientific journal PloS Pathogens.

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