Biological and genetic characteristics of uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains

Authors

  • Wanderley Dias da SILVEIRA Universidade Estadual de Campinas; Instituto de Biologia; Departamento de Microbiologia e Imunologia
  • Fabiane BENETTI Universidade Estadual de Campinas; Instituto de Biologia; Departamento de Microbiologia e Imunologia
  • Marcelo LANCELLOTTI Universidade Estadual de Campinas; Instituto de Biologia; Departamento de Microbiologia e Imunologia
  • Alessandra FERREIRA Universidade Estadual de Campinas; Instituto de Biologia; Departamento de Microbiologia e Imunologia
  • Vera Nisaka SOLFERINI Universidade Estadual de Campinas; Instituto de Biologia; Departamento de Genética e Evolução
  • Marcelo BROCCHI Universidade de São Paulo; Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto; Departamento de Biologia Celular e Molecular e Bioagentes Patogênicos

Keywords:

Escherichia coli, Clonal relationship, Urinary infection, Virulence traits, Genetic analysis

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine biological characteristics such as expression of fimbriae, Congo red binding, production of hemolysin and aerobactin, adhesion to HeLa and uroepithelial cells and invasion of HeLa cells by Escherichia coli isolates obtained from patients showing clinical signs of urinary tract infection (UTI). Also, the presence of genes (apa, afa, spa) for fimbria expression and cytotoxic necrotizing factors (CNF1, CNF2) was assayed using specific primers in PCR. The data obtained were compared with the clonal relationships obtained by analysis of multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE), restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of the rDNA (ribotyping) and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus-PCR (ERIC-PCR). All isolates but one presented a combination of at least two of the characteristics studied, a fact suggesting the presence of pathogenicity islands (PAIs). Diffuse adherence type to HeLa cells was observed to occur in most of the strains, but adhesion to uroepithelial cells seems to be a more reliable test to verify pathogenicity. Although four strains seemed to be able to invade HeLa cells when assayed by light microscopy, electron microscopy studies demonstrated that these strains were not invasive. MLEE, RFLP and ERIC-PCR were able to group the isolates differently into main clusters that were not correlated with the presence of pathogenic traits.

Downloads

Downloads

Published

2001-12-01

Issue

Section

Microbiology

How to Cite

SILVEIRA, W. D. da, BENETTI, F., LANCELLOTTI, M., FERREIRA, A., SOLFERINI, V. N., & BROCCHI, M. (2001). Biological and genetic characteristics of uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains . Revista Do Instituto De Medicina Tropical De São Paulo, 43(6), 303-310. https://revistas.usp.br/rimtsp/article/view/30554