The enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) adherence factor plasmid (pEAF) encodes the proteins involved in the biogenesis of\nthe bundle-forming pilus (BFP), a key virulence factor thatmediates microcolony formation and the localized adherence phenotype\non the surface of the host enterocytes. The presence or absence of this plasmid defines typical EPEC (tEPEC) and atypical EPEC\n(aEPEC), respectively. Although lateral transfer of pEAF has been evidenced by phylogenetic studies, conjugal transfer ability has\nbeen experimentally established only for two pEAF plasmids fromstrains isolated in the late 60s. In the present work, we tested the\nself-conjugation ability of four pEAF plasmids from tEPEC strains isolated between 2007 and 2008 from children in Peru and the\npotential of aEPEC to receive them. A kanamycin resistance cassette was inserted into donor pEAF plasmids in order to provide\na selectable marker in the conjugation experiments. Two aEPEC isolated from the same geographic region were used as recipient\nstrains along with the laboratory E. coli DH5
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