Tag: EHEC EAEC STEC

Natural GMOs Part 105. Comparing more ancestors clarifies family relationships of a nasty germ

Genome and plasmid comparisons of Enteroaggregative E. coli strains, Rasko and others NEJM 2011, illustrated by comparisons of the main chromosome, and two plasmids, one encoding antibiotic resistance, including extended spectrum beta-lactamase, the other (pAA) encoding enteroaggregative virulence traits. An amazing amount of genetic analysis has been rapidly published about the huge recent outbreak of…

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The EFSA is doing traceback of E. coli contaminated fenugreek seeds imported into the EU. Preston and Tribe do traceback with plagiarised junk science.

The European food safety authority is currently tracing the sources and distribution of allegedly deadly E. coli contaminated fenugreek seeds originating in Egypt which have been implicated in several different outbreaks of severe pathogenic E. coli infections occurring these last weeks in Germany, France, and Sweden (see several other recent GMO Pundit Posts). To quote from the…

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Real progress on EU E. coli outbreak: An Egyptian fenugreek seed source to European food disaster?

European Food Safety agency EFSA has traced the food chains from the seed sprout associated E. coli food illness in the EU that has killed 48 people. The evidence is pointing to imported Egyptian fenugreek seeds at this moment in the investigation. CIDRAP provide a good commentary on this, reposted here**. The problem may be…

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First they banned irradiation of foods, then GMOs, now they are starting on nanotechnology — all life-saving technologies.

Nanotechnology Now – Press Release: “Nanostructured water treatment products to be worth $2.2 billion in 2015” Warnings from nutritional hell, with apologies to El Bosco We live in a world where whole organisations make comfortable incomes by demonising technology. These self-styled “technology critics” early successes included active blocking of the use of irradiation to make…

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Worried about deliberate introduction of the German E. coli germ? Please read this.

(Updated 21-06-2011] Enough information is now emerging from the frantic work of the DNA sequencing teams and the crowdsourced intense detective work by bioinformatics experts (all mentioned in several previous posts at this site) to assemble a broad picture of how the German outbreak germ has evolved in recent years in terms of changes to its…

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More about how the EHEC germ may get transmitted in plant material such as seeds

It is widely known that pathogenic E. coli germs have ability to survive inside fresh vegetable produce such as spinach, lettuce and sprouts, where they are protected against disinfection. This ability may be a key factor explaining the transmission of the E. coli strain in the dreadful (and still ongoing) German outbreak. A new article has…

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Genetic family trees show the German outbreak of E coli is a member of small family of germs called EAEC — that includes an African germ — and is distinct from EHECs

The latest news is that the German outbreak strain of Escherichia coli is a member of small family of germs called EAEC that includes an African member (Ec55989 ). This family is clearly distinct from classical EHEC (=STEC) bacteria such as E. coli O157:H7. The Pundit will now start calling them EAEC/STEC recombinant or hybrid…

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NEWS FLASH: The German EHEC Germ DNA code displays evidence that it has been genetically engineered!

For a more recent updated post on this topic go here. Kat Holt, the super-geek pathological-genome breaker at U. Melbourne (who works upstairs from the Pundit, in a room full of expensive computers and a lovely view of sheep) is at it again. She’s found gene rearrangements in the German EAEC outbreak germ. She reports her work…

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Speedy tweets matter for science, and fimbriae hairs matter for death and disease from lethal German EHEC E. coli germs

…[The German outbreak bacteria form ﬁmbriae [pili].” Fimbriae are small tentacles that help EAEC bacteria stick to the intestinal wall. This could lead to a stronger colonization of the gut and more toxin being released into the body. Speed matters: Scientists Rush to Study Genome of Lethal E. coli …an armada of scientists around the…

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Natural GMOs Part 86: The parents of the German E. coli germ engaged in horizontal gene transfer

STEC/EHEC outbreak – horizontally transferred genes « bacpathgenomics: “STEC/EHEC outbreak – horizontally transferred genes” Kat Holt has produced a fantastic visual presentation of the family tree of the German disease causing E. coli EHEC/EAEC/STEC germ. The Pundit won’t spoil her story with too much comment: In the German outbreak bacteria, as in most E. coli,…

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