REVIEW article
Front. Bacteriol.
Sec. Pathogenesis, Vaccines, and Immunity of Bacterial Infections
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbrio.2025.1677775
Pathogenicity and Virulence factors of Escherichia coli discovered using Next Generation Sequencing Technologies and Proteomics
Provisionally accepted
- University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
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Escherichia coli is a gastrointestinal bacterium previously known for its commensal activities in the human digestive systems. Their occurrence in drinking water and natural water sources has been used as a faecal pollution footprint or marker to determine the extent of pollution. However, their ability to cause diseases as an opportunistic bacterium is a global concern. Hence, unveiling their diverse virulence factors and pathogenicity through diverse technologies becomes pertinent. The advent of next-generation sequencing technologies and proteomics have significantly propelled these studies forward. Utilizing next-generation sequencing and proteomics, scientists have unveiled a multitude of pathogenicity and virulence factors linked to E. coli. This review underscores the advancements made in uncovering E. coli's pathogenicity, virulence factors, and specific attributes through next-generation sequencing and selected proteomics investigations. The review presents and describes discovered pathogenicity and virulence factors. It concludes that while significant progress has been made, there is still much work to be done that can utilize next-generation sequencing and proteomics in this area of research fully. The in-depth study of E. coli's virulence factors and pathogenicity could provide preventive/curative insight into a pattern or technologies that could be adopted to minimize the outbreak of disease associated with the bacterium even at their opportunistic level.
Keywords: Escherichia coli, pathogenicity, Virulence, Next-generation sequencing, Proteomics, Water Quality
Received: 01 Aug 2025; Accepted: 19 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mudau, Kalu, Ntobeng and Tekere. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Khuthadzo Lunsford Mudau, 50173065@mylife.unisa.ac.za
Chimdi M Kalu, ekalucm@unisa.ac.za
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.