“…Our results allow a fundamental step forward in the understanding of the full virulence potential and, to a lesser extent, of the antimicrobial resistance potential of UTI isolates as well as commensal animal and food isolates. UTI, animal and meat E. coli isolates have been investigated previously for their virulence genes but never to this extent, and only a few isolates were investigated simultaneously for antimicrobial resistance genes (Bonnet et al, 2009;Ewers et al, 2007Ewers et al, , 2009Hamelin et al, 2006Hamelin et al, , 2007Hannah et al, 2009;Jakobsen et al, 2008;Johnson et al, 2005bJohnson et al, , 2009Maynard et al, 2004 The extensive gene profiling, epidemiologically sampled isolates, analysis of B2 isolates only and the many isolate origins investigated here make up the strength of this study and provide radical difference from previous studies. Interestingly, despite this extensive gene profiling, similarities between isolates from UTI, animal and meat E. coli was clearly apparent.…”