{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,11]],"date-time":"2026-02-11T13:00:22Z","timestamp":1770814822303,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,9]],"date-time":"2026-02-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1770595200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["82574169"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["82574169"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Natural Science Foundation of Beijing Municipality","award":["7232009"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["7232009"]}]},{"name":"Natural Science Foundation of Beijing Municipality","award":["7244289"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["7244289"]}]},{"name":"Cross-cooperation project of the Beijing Science and Technology New Star Program","award":["20240484724"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["20240484724"]}]},{"name":"High Level Public Health Technical Personnel Construction Project","award":["leaders-03-02"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["leaders-03-02"]}]},{"name":"Research Foundation of Capital Institute of Pediatrics","award":["YCYJ-2025-08"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["YCYJ-2025-08"]}]},{"name":"Beijing Chaoyang District Postdoctoral Research Foundation","award":["2024"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Early-onset neonatal sepsis caused by Escherichia coli (E. coli) threatens neonates\u2019 lives due to the pathogen\u2019s high virulence and multidrug resistance. The mechanisms that enable its placental barrier breach are poorly understood. Using a clinically isolated ST95 ExPEC strain from a neonatal sepsis case, along with a pregnant rat model and an in vitro placental barrier model, we performed CRISPR interference screening. This screen targeted 264 virulence factor genes and identified virulence factors for motility, iron acquisition, hemolysin secretion, and adherence\/invasion as critical. We demonstrated that hlyB is essential for uterine infection, and we elucidated a mechanism for ibeA that facilitates syncytial trophoblast cell layer penetration by interacting with the host receptor(s) PSF\/VIM to enhance bacterial internalization. Host cells countered ibeA+ E. coli infection via a novel host defense pathway involving upregulation of ASPHD1. This study systematically mapped the virulence factors required for E. coli placental translocation and delineated key host\u2013pathogen interactions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27041661","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,9]],"date-time":"2026-02-09T08:15:54Z","timestamp":1770624954000},"page":"1661","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["CRISPRi Screening Identifies Essential E. coli Virulence Factors for Placental Barrier Breach in a Maternal\u2013Fetal Infection Model"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-0248-5088","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiaochen","family":"Cai","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neonatology, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing 100020, China"},{"name":"Capital Center for Children\u2019s Health, Capital Medical University, Yabaolu No. 2, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100020, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xiao","family":"Liang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neonatology, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing 100020, China"},{"name":"Capital Center for Children\u2019s Health, Capital Medical University, Yabaolu No. 2, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100020, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7407-3227","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Peicen","family":"Zou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neonatology, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing 100020, China"},{"name":"Department of Neonatology, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0445-7791","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ruiqi","family":"Xiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neonatology, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing 100020, China"},{"name":"Department of Neonatology, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yajuan","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neonatology, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing 100020, China"},{"name":"Capital Center for Children\u2019s Health, Capital Medical University, Yabaolu No. 2, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100020, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"745","DOI":"10.1136\/archdischild-2020-320217","article-title":"Global incidence and mortality of neonatal sepsis: A systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"106","author":"Fleischmann","year":"2021","journal-title":"Arch. 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