title: Prevalence of pathogenicity island IICFT073 genes among extraintestinal clinical isolates of Escherichia coli.
abstract: Uropathogenic Escherichia coli is the most common cause of urinary tract infection (UTI). Cystitis in women is by far the most common UTI; pyelonephritis in both sexes and prostatitis in men are more severe but are less frequent complaints. The ability of E. coli to cause UTI is associated with specific virulence determinants, some of which are encoded on pathogenicity islands (PAI). One such PAI (PAI IICFT073), of the prototypical uropathogenic E. coli strain CFT073, contains 116 open reading frames, including iron-regulated genes, carbohydrate biosynthetic genes, the serine protease autotransporter picU, a two-partner secretion system, a type I secretion system, mobility genes, and a large number of hypothetical genes. To determine the association of PAI IICFT073 with UTI, PCR was used to examine the prevalence of the five virulence-associated loci among the ECOR collection and a collection of E. coli isolated from patients with cystitis, pyelonephritis, prostatitis, or septicemia. All PAI IICFT073 loci were found to be more prevalent among the B2 phylogenetic group than any other group within the ECOR collection and among invasive prostatitis strains than were cystitis or pyelonephritis strains. These data support the theory that clinical isolates causing prostatitis are more virulent than those producing cystitis or pyelonephritis in women.
authors.affiliation: Bacterial Pathogenesis and Genomics Unit, Division of Immunity and Infection, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Nick J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Parham
authors.forename: Samantha J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Pollard
authors.forename: Roy R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Chaudhuri
authors.forename: Scott A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Beatson
authors.forename: Mickaël
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Desvaux
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.forename: Joaquim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fivian
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vila
authors.forename: Ian R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Henderson
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D044404:Genomic Islands / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D011487:Protein Conformation; D012703:Serotyping; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers