Genetic analysis for virulence factors in Escherichia coli O104:H21 that was implicated in an outbreak of hemorrhagic colitis.
Isolates of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) of serotype O104:H21 implicated in a 1994 outbreak of hemorrhagic colitis in Montana were analyzed for the presence of trait EHEC virulence markers. By using a multiplex PCR that specifically amplifies several genes, the O104:H21 strains were found to carry only the Shiga toxin 2 gene (stx2) and to express Stx2. They did not have the eaeA gene for gamma-intimin, which is typically found in O157:H7, or the alpha- or beta-intimin derivatives, which are common in other EHEC and enteropathogenic E. coli serotypes. Results of the multiplex PCR also indicated that the ehxA gene for enterohemolysin was absent from O104:H21. This, however, was not consistent with the results of a phenotypic assay that showed them to be hemolytic or a PCR analysis with another set of ehxA-specific primers, which indicated the presence of ehxA. To resolve this discrepancy, the ehxA region in O104:H21 and O157:H7 strains, to which the multiplex PCR primers anneal, was cloned and sequenced. Comparison of the sequences showed that the upstream primer binding site in the ehxA gene of O104:H21 was not identical to that of O157:H7. Specifically, there were several base mutations, including an A-to-G substitution at the 3' end of the primer binding site. These base mutations are presumably not unique to O104:H21, since other enterohemolytic serotypes were also not detected with the ehxA primers used in the multiplex PCR. Comparison of the ehxA sequences of O104:H21 strains with those of other Stx-producing E. coli strains showed that they more closely resembled those of O8:H19 strains, which have cluster II ehxA genes, than those of O157:H7 strains, which have cluster I ehxA sequences. By modifying the upstream ehxA primer, the multiplex PCR was able to detect ehxA genes in both O157:H7 and O104:H21 strains.
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Division of Microbiological Studies, Food and Drug Administration, Washington, DC 20204, USA. pfeng@cfsan.fda.gov
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D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D003092:Colitis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D009009:Montana / Q000453:epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D022641:Shiga Toxin 2 / Q000235:genetics; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; C036507:Hlya protein, E coli; D022641:Shiga Toxin 2; C066219:enterohemolysin; C073819:eaeA protein, E coli