Disease relevance of fimE

• The molecular basis for the specificity of fimE in the phase variation of type 1 fimbriae of Escherichia coli K-12 [1].
• Immuno-gold labelling and lysis studies using pilH alpha, a bacteriophage specific for H pili, were used to investigate transfer-deficient mutants of pHH1508a obtained by Tn5 mutagenesis and an in vitro constructed derivative of 96 kilobases, pDT1178, which also conferred resistance to potassium tellurite, trimethoprim, and streptomycin [2].

High impact information on fimE

• The fimB and fimE proteins direct the phase switch into the 'on' and 'off' position, respectively [3].
• We show here that termination is Rho dependent and is suppressed in a rho mutant or by bicyclomycin treatment when fimE mRNA is expressed by the fimE gene, either from a multicopy recombinant plasmid or in its native chromosomal location [4].
• The fim genetic switch in the chromosome of Escherichia coli K-12 is an invertible DNA element that harbors the promoter for transcription of the downstream fim structural genes and a transcription terminator that acts on the upstream fimE regulatory gene [4].

Other interactions of fimE

• Whereas fimB promotes recombination with little orientational bias, fimE promotes recombination in the ON-to-OFF direction exclusively [1].

References