Molecular characterisation of verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli of serogroup O111 from different countries.
A collection of epidemiologically unrelated verocytotoxin (VT)-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) strains of serogroup O111 isolated from human patients and cattle with diarrhoeal disease in five different countries were characterised by determination of their VT genotypes, the presence of other virulence factors such as the intimin-coding eae gene and the enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) plasmid, and their antibiotic susceptibility patterns. The genetic relatedness among isolates was evaluated by genomic DNA fingerprinting techniques such as restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of ribosomal RNA genes (ribotyping) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. The results indicated that the VTEC O111 examined belong to two distinct clonal lineages. The first group was constituted mainly of non-motile, eae-positive, EHEC plasmid-positive isolates from both man and cattle. The second lineage was represented by an O111:H2 epidemic strain, isolated during an outbreak of haemolytic uraemic syndrome in France and exhibiting an unusual combination of virulence factors: VT production and aggregative adhesion to HEp-2 cells associated with an enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) plasmid.
Morabito
S
S
Laboratorio di Medicina Veterinaria, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy.
Karch
H
H
Institut fur Hygiene und Mikrobiologie, Universitat Wurzburg, Wurzburg, Germany.
Schmidt
H
H
Institut fur Hygiene und Mikrobiologie, Universitat Wurzburg, Wurzburg, Germany.
Minelli
F
F
Laboratorio di Medicina Veterinaria, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy.
Mariani-Kurkdjian
Patrizia
P
Service de Microbiologie, Hopital Robert Debré, Paris, France.
Allerberger
F
F
Institut fur Hygiene, Universitat Innsbruck, Austria.
Bettelheim
K A
KA
Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Melbourne, Australia.
Caprioli
A
A
Laboratorio di Medicina Veterinaria, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy.
D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D000818:Animals; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics*; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D002417:Cattle; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D019453:Escherichia coli O157 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D022622:Shiga Toxin 1; D022641:Shiga Toxin 2; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal; D022622:Shiga Toxin 1; D022641:Shiga Toxin 2; C073819:eaeA protein, E coli