Link to Pubmed [PMID] – 15385522
Infect. Immun. 2004 Oct;72(10):6151-6
We showed that the deoK operon, which confers the ability to use deoxyribose as a carbon source, is more common among pathogenic than commensal Escherichia coli strains. The expression of the deoK operon increases the competitiveness of clinical isolates, suggesting that this biochemical characteristic plays a role in host infectivity.