Washington, Dec. 10 -- : Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered that a toxin produced by the bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli), long known to cause diarrhea, also has other effects on the human digestive tract.
The toxin, they found, changes gene expression in the cells that line the inside of the gut, inducing them to manufacture a protein that the bacterium then uses to attach to the intestinal wall.
The findings, published Nov. 17 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offer a clue to why recurrent but short-lived episodes of diarrhea could lead to long-term nutritional problems.
"There's more than meets the eye with this toxin. It is basically changing the surface of the i...