[Study on the molecular epidemiology of diarrhea caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, using polymerase chain reaction with multiple primer pairs].
A Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method has been developed for detecting Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). Three different sets of oligonucleotide primer were simultaneously used to amplify the enterotoxin genes of heat-labile (LTh) and heat-stable (STIa and STIb) enterotoxins of ETEC. These primers amplified the 627, 240 or 169 base pair DNA fragments from LTh, STIa and STIb genes of the reference ETEC strains, respectively. Five types of ETEC strains corresponding to the LTh, STIa, STIb, LTh-STIa, or LTh-STIb genotypes were distinguished by a single procedure of PCR, using the mixture of the three sets of primers. There was no cross-reaction with the non-ETEC strains. The lowest detection level was 10 cfu. A total number of 623 stool specimens of diarrheal patients from Shangdong Province induced by E. coli were examined by PCR and the positive rate of ETEC was 40.3%. The results indicated that PCR is a rapid, sensitive and specific method for detecting ETEC.
Cai
Q
Q
Research Center of Clinical Molecular Biology, Genetal Hospital Air Force of PLA, Beijing.
Wang
W
W
Chen
Y C
YC
D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012423:Rural Health
D004269:DNA, Bacterial