JCM Figure table search 04
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Welinder-Olsson, C.
Right arrow Articles by Kaijser, B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Welinder-Olsson, C.
Right arrow Articles by Kaijser, B.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2002, p. 959-964, Vol. 40, No. 3
0095-1137/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.40.3.959-954.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Genetic Profiling of Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli Strains in Relation to Clonality and Clinical Signs of Infection

Christina Welinder-Olsson,1 Maria Badenfors,1 Tom Cheasty,2 Eva Kjellin,1 and Bertil Kaijser1*

Department of Clinical Bacteriology, University of Göteborg, and Bacteriology Laboratory, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Göteborg, Sweden,1 Laboratory of Enteric Pathogens, Central Public Health Laboratory, London, England2

Received 4 September 2001/ Returned for modification 26 November 2001/ Accepted 6 January 2002

Sixty-seven human strains of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) (from patients with more or less severe symptoms) were serogrouped and arranged according to pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns. We used PCR to investigate the strains according to known or putative virulence factors, and associations with disease were studied. All EHEC strains with the same PFGE pattern belonged to the same serogroup. On the contrary, two serogroups (O157 and O8) included strains with different PFGE patterns. We found several different combinations of chromosomal and plasmid-borne determinants, encoding the putative virulence factors, among the strains. As judged from clinical symptoms, there was no marked difference in pathogenicity among the strains and their combinations of virulence traits. All strains of O157 had the genes coding for verocytotoxin (VT) 2, intimin (eaeA), E. coli hemolysin (E-hly), and secreted serine protease (espP). Among EHEC non-O157 strains, the genes coding for VT1 and VT2 were equally dispersed. EaeA positivity was just as common among VT1- as VT2-positive strains. Among the plasmid-borne determinants, E-hly and espP were the most common and E-hly might be a pathogenicity marker among EHEC non-O157 strains. The conclusion is that PFGE is a very useful tool in epidemiological studies. The EHEC plasmids are heterogeneous in their gene composition, with the four plasmid-borne determinants found in many combinations. There was no reliable correlation between chromosomal and plasmid-borne virulence factors and human disease.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Clinical Bacteriology, Göteborg University, Guldhedsgatan 10, SE-413 46 Göteborg, Sweden. Phone: 46 31 342 49 08. Fax: 46 31 410024. E-mail: bertil.kaijser{at}microbio.gu.se.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2002, p. 959-964, Vol. 40, No. 3
0095-1137/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.40.3.959-954.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. Clin. Microbiol. Rev.
Clin. Vaccine Immunol. ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 2002 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.