Escherichia albertii KF1 Genome sequencing. Escherichia albertii KF1

Escherichia albertii is a new emerging enetric pathogen that has been associated with infections in humans and birds. E. albertii was first isolated from 5 Bangladeshi children with diarrhea. These isolates were initially identified as Hafnia alvei, but further analysis showed that they were more closely related to Escherichia coli and Shigella flexneri, and subsequently reclassified as E. albertii in 2003. E. albertii produces intimin, a virulence factor characteristic for enteropathogenic (EPEC) and enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) strains. However, its pathogenic potential is currently unknown and it is unclear how common is this new species in food and clinical samples. In addition, its identification is difficult because of the lack of biochemical tests, and exclusively based on molecular methods (e.g. PCR). The project will provide a platform to identify new genes that may contribute to this pathogen's virulence or markers usefull in reliable identification of E. albertii strains. Moreover, it can expand our knowledge about genomic variability, plasticity and mechanisms of evolution of enteropathogenic Escherichia spp. strains.