(CGG)4-based PCR as a novel tool for discrimination of uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains: comparison with enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus-PCR.
Urinary tract infections are one of the most frequent bacterial diseases in humans, and Escherichia coli is most often the relevant pathogen. A specific pathotype of E. coli, known as uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC), often causes serious and difficult-to-treat infections of the urinary tract. We propose a new single-tube screening tool that uses an (N)(6)(CGG)(4) primer to generate fingerprint profiles that allow rapid discrimination and epidemiology of this group of bacteria. We found 71 different CGG-PCR profiles among 127 E. coli strains, while enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-PCR of the same group yielded only 28 profiles. Additionally, the (CGG)(4)-based PCR test turned out to be very effective for clustering UPEC strains exhibiting multiple virulence genes and usually belonging to the B2 phylogenetic group, and it separated these strains from E. coli strains lacking most of the UPEC-specific virulence factors. Since the reproducibility of the CGG-PCR screen is higher than that of ERIC-PCR, our test should be a valuable means of increasing the discriminatory power of current UPEC typing schemes.
Institute of Medical Biology PAS, 106 Lodowa Str, 93-232 Lodz, Poland.
Wioletta
W
Adamus-Bialek
Arkadiusz
A
Wojtasik
Marta
M
Majchrzak
Marek
M
Sosnowski
Pawel
P
Parniewski
D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D017931:DNA Primers; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013045:Species Specificity; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D056689:Uropathogenic Escherichia coli / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification
D017931:DNA Primers; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins