Molecular Analysis of H Antigens Reveals that Human Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli O26 Strains That Carry the eae Gene Belong to the H11 Clonal Complex
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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
Molecular Analysis of H Antigens Reveals that Human Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli O26 Strains That Carry the eae Gene Belong to the H11 Clonal Complex
Description:
<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title>
<jats:p>
Fifty-seven
<jats:italic>Escherichia coli</jats:italic>
O26 strains isolated from patients in six countries were investigated by PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the flagellin-encoding (
<jats:italic>fliC</jats:italic>
) gene (
<jats:italic>fliC</jats:italic>
RFLP analysis). The strains were determined by serotyping to belong to five different H types or were nonmotile. The
<jats:italic>fliC</jats:italic>
RFLP analysis revealed only two different patterns among the 57 strains. One
<jats:italic>fliC</jats:italic>
RFLP pattern was displayed by 54 strains and was identical to that of
<jats:italic>E. coli</jats:italic>
H11 reference strain Su4321-41. The other
<jats:italic>fliC</jats:italic>
RFLP pattern was observed for three strains and was identical to that for
<jats:italic>E. coli</jats:italic>
H32 reference strain K10. The 54 strains with the H11
<jats:italic>fliC</jats:italic>
RFLP pattern included 22 strains of serotype O26:H11, 23 nonmotile strains, and 9 strains that were initially serotyped as H2, H8, H21, and H32 but that were confirmed to express H11 by repeat serotyping. All 54 strains with the H11
<jats:italic>fliC</jats:italic>
RFLP pattern contained the attaching-and-effacing (
<jats:italic>eae</jats:italic>
) gene. The three strains with the H32
<jats:italic>fliC</jats:italic>
RFLP pattern belonged to serotype O26:H32, and all were
<jats:italic>eae</jats:italic>
negative. The
<jats:italic>fliC</jats:italic>
genes of 14 selected
<jats:italic>E. coli</jats:italic>
O26:H11 strains isolated between 1964 and 1999 had identical nucleotide sequences. Our results demonstrate that
<jats:italic>E. coli</jats:italic>
O26 strains that carry the
<jats:italic>eae</jats:italic>
gene belong exclusively to the H11 clonal complex. Since there were no H11
<jats:italic>fliC</jats:italic>
allelic variations among the O26 strains tested,
<jats:italic>E. coli</jats:italic>
O26:H11 may have emerged recently. The
<jats:italic>fliC</jats:italic>
PCR-RFLP test is a reliable, easy-to-perform, and rapid method for determination of the H types of
<jats:italic>E. coli</jats:italic>
O26 isolates.
</jats:p>