Enterobacterial autoinducer of growth enhances shiga toxin production by enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli.

The addition of the enterobacterial autoinducer of growth to nutrient-poor minimal medium markedly accelerated the exponential growth rates of strains of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli but had little or no effect on maximal cell densities in stationary phase. Growth in the presence of the autoinducer resulted in an approximately twofold enhancement in Shiga toxin production.