Association of Escherichia coli O157:H7 tir polymorphisms with human infection.
BACKGROUND
Emerging molecular, animal model and epidemiologic evidence suggests that Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli O157:H7 (STEC O157) isolates vary in their capacity to cause human infection and disease. The translocated intimin receptor (tir) and intimin (eae) are virulence factors and bacterial receptor-ligand proteins responsible for tight STEC O157 adherence to intestinal epithelial cells. They represent logical genomic targets to investigate the role of sequence variation in STEC O157 pathogenesis and molecular epidemiology. The purposes of this study were (1) to identify tir and eae polymorphisms in diverse STEC O157 isolates derived from clinically ill humans and healthy cattle (the dominant zoonotic reservoir) and (2) to test any observed tir and eae polymorphisms for association with human (vs bovine) isolate source.


RESULTS
Five polymorphisms were identified in a 1,627-bp segment of tir. Alleles of two tir polymorphisms, tir 255 T>A and repeat region 1-repeat unit 3 (RR1-RU3, presence or absence) had dissimilar distributions among human and bovine isolates. More than 99% of 108 human isolates possessed the tir 255 T>A T allele and lacked RR1-RU3. In contrast, the tir 255 T>A T allele and RR1-RU3 absence were found in 55% and 57%, respectively, of 77 bovine isolates. Both polymorphisms associated strongly with isolate source (p < 0.0001), but not by pulsed field gel electrophoresis type or by stx1 and stx2 status (as determined by PCR). Two eae polymorphisms were identified in a 2,755-bp segment of 44 human and bovine isolates; 42 isolates had identical eae sequences. The eae polymorphisms did not associate with isolate source.


CONCLUSIONS
Polymorphisms in tir but not eae predict the propensity of STEC O157 isolates to cause human clinical disease. The over-representation of the tir 255 T>A T allele in human-derived isolates vs the tir 255 T>A A allele suggests that these isolates have a higher propensity to cause disease. The high frequency of bovine isolates with the A allele suggests a possible bovine ecological niche for this STEC O157 subset.
Bono
James L
JL
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, Clay Center, NE 68933 USA. Jim.Bono@ars.usda.gov
Keen
James E
JE
Clawson
Michael L
ML
Durso
Lisa M
LM
Heaton
Michael P
MP
Laegreid
William W
WW
D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle / Q000382:microbiology; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D019453:Escherichia coli O157 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000235:genetics*; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics*
D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D009841:Oligonucleotides; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; C109287:Tir protein, E coli; D037521:Virulence Factors; C073819:eaeA protein, E coli
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