Pathoadaptive Mutations in Uropathogenic Escherichia coli

Abstract

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) are opportunistic human pathogens that primarily circulate as part of commensal intestinal microbiota. Though they have the ability to survive and proliferate in various urinary tract compartments, the urinary tract is a transient, occasional habitat for UPEC. Because of this, most of the UPEC traits have originally evolved to serve in intestinal colonization and transmission. Some of these bacterial traits serve as virulence factors – they are critical to or assist in survival of UPEC as pathogens, and the structure and/or function may be specialized for the infection. Other traits could serve as anti-virulence factors – they represent liability in the urinary tract and are under selection to be lost or inactivated during the infection. Inactivation, variation, or other changes of the bacterial genes that increase the pathogen’s fitness during the infection are called pathoadaptive mutations . This chapter describes examples of pathoadaptive mutations in UPEC and provides rationale for their further in-depth study.