TITLE:
Presence of Virulence-Associated Genes and Ability to Form Biofilm among Clinical Isolates of Escherichia coli Causing Urinary Infection in Domestic Animals
AUTHORS:
Cherise Hill, Marianne Pan, Lmar Babrak, Lia Danelishvili, Helio De Morais, Luiz E. Bermudez
KEYWORDS:
E. coli, Pathogenesis-Related Genes, Biofilm, Urinary Tract Infection, Animals, UPEC
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Microbiology,
Vol.5 No.8,
July
30,
2015
ABSTRACT: Background: Urinary tract infection caused by Escherichia coli is a frequently observed condition both in
humans and animals. Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) has been shown to have
a pathogenicity island that enables them to infect the urinary tract. Because
there is little information about the presence of UPEC-associated virulent
genes in animal isolates this work was carried out with the intent to enhance
the understanding about the strains of E.coli that cause infections in
animals. Results: We screened
21 E. coli strains isolated causing urinary tract infection in domestic
animals. Primers were designed to amplify urinary infection-associated genes.
Nine genes, papA, tcpC, fyuA, tpbA, Lma, hylA, picU, tonB, and flicC were then amplified and sequenced.
Different from the human isolate CFT073, all the animals E. coli lack
some of the pathogenesis-associated genes. Genes encoding for proteins used to
scavenge iron appear not to be so necessary during animal infections as they
are in human infection. In further
investigation of phenotypic properties, it was observed that animal UPECs have
significantly more impaired ability to form biofilms than human UPEC strain. Conclusions:
This study identified significant differences between human and animal UPECs.
This may have its roots in the fact that it is difficult to determine if an
animal has symptoms. Future studies will focus on some of the observations.