ArticlePloS one2013
Did I pick the right colony? Pitfalls in the study of regulation of the phase variable antigen 43 adhesin.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Lifestyle-specific S-nitrosylation of protein cysteine thiols regulates Escherichia coli biofilm formation and resistance to oxidative stress.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2021Article
- Phenotypic and Genetic Determination of Biofilm Formation in Heat ResistantMicroorganisms · 2021Article
- Two genomic regions encoding exopolysaccharide production systems have complementary functions in B. cereus multicellularity and host interaction.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Article
- Escherichia coli, cattle and the propagation of disease.FEMS microbiology letters · 2017Review
- Genomic variations leading to alterations in cell morphology of Campylobacter spp.Scientific reports · 2016Article
- Chemotaxis towards autoinducer 2 mediates autoaggregation in Escherichia coli.Nature communications · 2016Article
- Giving structure to the biofilm matrix: an overview of individual strategies and emerging common themes.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2015Review
- Adhesins Involved in Attachment to Abiotic Surfaces by Gram-Negative Bacteria.Microbiology spectrum · 2015Review
- Intra- and inter-species interactions within biofilms of important foodborne bacterial pathogens.Frontiers in microbiology · 2015Review
- Control of gene expression at a bacterial leader RNA, the agn43 gene encoding outer membrane protein Ag43 of Escherichia coli.Journal of bacteriology · 2014Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Ag43 is an abundant outer membrane autotransporter adhesin present in most commensal and pathogenic Escherichia coli. Expression of the agn43 gene is characterized by a regulated reversible switch or phase variation between the agn43 ON and agn43 OFF states. Although the agn43 regulatory switch leads to a heterogeneous population of ON and OFF bacteria, studies of Ag43 seldom consider potential biases associated with phase variation. We monitored agn43 ON/OFF phase-variation status genetically and phenotypically and we show that the use of populations with random agn43 ON or OFF status could result in misleading conclusions about Ag43 function or regulation. In particular, we demonstrate that Lrp and MqsR, previously identified as agn43 regulators, do not regulate agn43 expression or ON/OFF switch frequency. We also show that biofilm formation in dynamic flow conditions does not influence agn43 ON/OFF switching but physically selects aggregating agn43 ON cells. This indicates that misinterpretation is possible when studying gene expression within biofilms. Finally, we provide evidence that ignoring the initial agn43 ON/OFF status of the E. coli populations studied is likely to bias analyses of phenotypes associated with other E. coli adhesins. This study therefore emphasizes the importance of monitoring Ag43 phase variation and indicates that caution is required when interpreting experiments using strains that are neither deleted for agn43 nor carefully assessed for agn43 ON/OFF status.
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Registered trials
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