Virulence factors and genetic variability of uropathogenicEscherichia coliisolated from dogs and cats in Italy

Abstract

In this study, the association between virulence genotypes and phylogenetic groups among Escherichia (E.) coli isolates obtained from pet dogs and cats with cystitis was detected, and fingerprinting methods were used to explore the relationship among strains. Forty uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) isolated from dogs (n = 30) and cats (n = 10) in Italy were analysed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of virulence factors and their classification into phylogenetic groups. The same strains were characterized by repetitive extragenic palindromic (REP)- and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-PCR techniques. We found a high number of virulence factors such as fimbriae A, S fimbriae (sfa) and cytotoxic necrotizing factor 1 (cnf1) significantly associated with phylogenetic group B2. We demonstrated a high correlation between α-hemolysin A and pyelonephritis C, sfa, and cnf1 operons, confirming the presence of pathogenicity islands in these strains. In addition, UPEC belonging to group B2 harboured a greater number of virulence factors than strains from phylogenetic groups A, B1, and D. REP- and ERIC-PCR grouped the UPEC isolates into two major clusters, the former grouping E. coli strains belonging to phylogenetic group B2 and D, the latter grouping those belonging to groups A and B1. Given the significant genetic variability among the UPEC strains found in our study, it can be hypothesized that no specific genotype is responsible for cystitis in cats or dogs.

Association between Presence of Urovirulence Factors, Phylogenetic Class, and Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns in 159 Uropathogenic <i>Escherichia coli</i> Samples Isolated from Dogs

“…Also similar to previous studies [9], B2 was the most common class among isolates that expressed UVFs. The more hich contained fewer UVFs than group B2.…”

“…Another study found that while B2 was less prevalent among resistant organisms compared to susceptible organisms, it was still the most dominant class in resistant organisms [14]. A third study also found B2 to be the most common class among UPEC but did not differentiate susceptible versus resistant organisms [9]. To the authors' knowledge, the correlation between the presence of UVFs, phylogenetic class, and antimicrobial resistance in E. coli isolates from dogs with UTIs has not previously been investigated.…”

“…In another study evaluating 50 canine UPEC isolates, the most common UVFs isolated were type I pilus (92%), pap (54%), sfa (54%), hly (54%), and cnf (52%) [5]. In a third study evaluating 30 canine UPEC isolates, fimbriae A (83%) was most common, followed by sfa and cnf (both 53%), pap and aerobactin receptor (iutA) (37%), and hly (23%) [9].…”

Genetic heterogeneity of Escherichia coli isolated from pasteurized milk in State of Paraná, Brazil

“…Ibenyassine et al (2006) used the same technique and evaluated the similarity of isolates from plants infected by irrigation water. Other authors have used ERIC-PCR to compare E. coli isolates from humans and animals (Leung et al, 2004;Sabate et al, 2008;Tramuta et al, 2011;De la Fé Rodriguez et al, 2012). Moreover, Casarez, Pillai, Di Giovanni, (2007), Duan et al (2009), andWan et al (2011) showed that ERIC-PCR could discriminate E. coli from water and environmental samples.…”

Caracterização de Escherichia coli uropatogênicas isoladas de crianças com infecção urinária.

“…O marcador fimH, também foi o mais encontrado em trabalhos realizados em pacientes com ITU na Suécia (96 %), Inglaterra (97 %) e China (80 %) (NORINDER et al, 2012, MLADIN et al, 2009, GIBREEL et al, 2011, ABDALLAH et al, 2011. Até mesmo pacientes com disfunção do trato urinário, no caso 51 bexiga neurogênica, apresentaram uma alta prevalência desse marcador (80 %) (TRAMUTA et al, 2011). O segundo marcador de virulência mais encontrado em nosso trabalho foi (pap) para a fimbria P (53,33%), seguido pelo marcador genético para a fimbria do tipo S (sfa) (32,22%), fenótipo de hemólise α (28,89%), marcador genético para Hemolisina-α (hly) (21,11%) e marcador genético da toxina Pic (10%) (Gráfico 12, Figura 7, Figura 8, Figura 9, Figura 10, Figura 11).…”