Understanding the mechanism of action of an inhibitor of Shiga toxin expression

Escherichia coli strains that produce Shiga toxins cause about 1000 detected infections a year in UK.
The more serious infections are associated with bloody diarrhoea and can lead to kidney and
neurological damage. A consortium of researchers at Edinburgh University are studying the biology
of these enterhaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) strains and have identified a small molecule that severely
inhibits the amount of toxin that EHEC strains produce. The project will investigate if this inhibition
is linked to blocking of the bacterial stress ‘SOS’ response using fluorescent readouts for SOS gene
induction. The work will contribute to our understanding of how the inhibitor functions.