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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #86024
Title: A COMMON SURFACE EPITOPE SHARED BY ENTEROHEMORRHAGIC ESCHERICHIA COLI

Author
item Elder, Robert
item Laegreid, William
item WESTERMAN, RALPH - PRIVATE INDUSTRY
item Keen, James
item Kwang, Hwei Sing
item WILSON, RICHARD - PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/7/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Detection and identification of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) has been defined based on the presence of genes for Shiga-like toxins, intimin, and enterohemolysin, along with association of specific disease syndromes. However, these genes can be present in non-EHEC strains complicating interpretation of diagnostic and screening results. We have generated and identified a monoclonal antibody which reacts with 88% of EHEC isolates tested, including 12/12 O157:H7/NM, 5/5 O111:H8/NM, and 5/5 O26:H2/H11/NM. Low-level expression of the determinant was detected in some enteropathogenic and enteroaggregative isolates, notably O55:H7, the putative ancestor of O157:H7. This antibody provides an additional tool which can be simply applied in a variety of immunologic assay formats for detection and identification of putative EHEC isolates. The nature and genetic basis for the epitope identified by this antibody are under investigation.