The long polar fimbriae genes identified in Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli are present in other diarrheagenic E. coli and in the standard E. coli collection of reference (ECOR) strains.
Long polar fimbriae (LPF) are related to type I fimbriae in genetic organization and were first identified in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Four lpfA genetic variants designated lpfA(O157/OI-141), lpfA(O157/OI-154), lpfA(O26) and lpfA(O113) have been identified in Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). In this study, PCR was employed to determine the distribution of STEC-lpfAs in enteropathogenic, enteroaggregative, enterotoxigenic and enteroinvasive E. coli (EPEC, EAEC, ETEC and EIEC) and in the standard E. coli collection of reference (ECOR). Among the 97 diarrheagenic strains from our collection, only 2 EPEC strains of serotypes O55:H7 and O119:NM were positive for both lpfA(O157/OI-141) and lpfA(O157/OI-154). lpfA(O157/OI-141) was also positive in 1 of 25 ETEC strains. lpfA(O113) was present in 51 of 97 strains and lpfA(O26) in 13 of 97 strains of diverse diarrheagenic categories. STEC-lpfAs were also present in non-pathogenic ECOR strains of all phylogenetic groups. This study showed that the lpfA genes identified in the genome of STEC strains are not specific to this category. Our results suggest that there is a relationship between the lpfA variant and the phylogenetic group.
Toma
Claudia
C
Division of Bacterial Pathogenesis, Department of Microbiology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0215, Japan. k950417@med.u-ryukyu.ac.jp
Higa
Naomi
N
Iyoda
Sunao
S
Rivas
Marta
M
Iwanaga
Masaaki
M
D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D036781:Fimbriae Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D010861:Fimbriae, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D005408:Flagellin / Q000235:genetics; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D022603:Shiga Toxins / Q000096:biosynthesis
D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D022603:Shiga Toxins; D005408:Flagellin; C073819:eaeA protein, E coli; D036781:Fimbriae Proteins