, 2001 & Pillai et al., 2006). Like StcE, V. cholerae TagA is a secreted mucinase and contributes to colonization of the intestinal epithelium (Szabady et al., 2010). The A.  hydrophilia TagA exhibits an additional StcE function by cleaving and localizing C1-INH to the surface of bacterium, increasing the serum resistance check details of the bacterium in vitro. An isogenic deletion mutant of tagA

decreased the mortality of mice compared with wild-type A. hydrophila in a mouse model of peritonitis (Pillai et al., 2006). Thus, StcE-like metalloproteases play a role in the virulence phenotypes of A. hydrophila, V. cholerae and E. coli O157:H7. In this study, we identified stcE as a possible virulence factor in atypical Shigella B13 strains and further characterized this unique cluster of attaching and effacing pathogens. We would like to thank Thomas Whittam, Alison O’Brien, and Fred Blattner for bacterial strains, Entinostat manufacturer Nancy Strockbine for information regarding the atypical Shigella B13 strains, Jay Bangs for use of his epifluorescence microscope, and Rose Szabady

and Becca Moritz for insightful discussions regarding the project and critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by NIH grant RO1 AI051735. “
“Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Transylvania University, Lexington, KY, USA Natural transformation is the main means of horizontal genetic exchange in the obligate human pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Neisseria spp. have been shown to preferentially take up and transform their own DNA by recognizing a non-palindromic 10 or 12 nucleotide DNA uptake sequence (DUS10 or DUS12). We investigated the ability

of the DUS12 to enhance single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) transformation. Given the non-palindromic nature of the DUS12, we tested whether both strands of the DUS equally enhance transformation. Recombinant single-stranded M13 phage harboring transforming DNA with Y-27632 in vivo the Watson DUS12, the Crick DUS12, or no DUS (DUS0) were constructed and circular ssDNA was purified. Southern blots of the purified DNA probed with strand-specific oligonucleotide probes showed > 10 000 : 1 ratio of ssDNA to contaminating dsDNA. The Crick strand of the DUS12 enhanced ssDNA transformation 180- to 470-fold over DUS0 ssDNA, whereas the Watson strand of the DUS only modestly enhanced ssDNA transformation in two strains of N. gonorrhoeae. These data confirm that ssDNA efficiently transforms N. gonorrhoeae, but that there is a strand preference and that part of this strand preference is a greater efficiency of the Crick strand of the DUS12 in enhancing transformation. Natural transformation is a widespread mechanism for horizontal genetic exchange used by numerous bacterial species (Johnsborg et al.