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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, February 2003, p. 675-679, Vol. 41, No. 2
0095-1137/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.41.2.675-679.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Multilocus Sequence Typing Reveals a Lack of Diversity among Escherichia coli O157:H7 Isolates That Are Distinct by Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis

Anna C. Noller,1,2 M. Catherine McEllistrem,1 O. Colin Stine,3 J. Glenn Morris, Jr.,3 David J. Boxrud,4 Bruce Dixon,5 and Lee H. Harrison1*

Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Research Unit,1 Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and School of Medicine,2 Allegheny County Health Department, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,5 Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland,3 Microbiology Laboratory, Minnesota Department of Health, Minneapolis, Minnesota4

Received 11 June 2002/ Returned for modification 10 October 2002/ Accepted 20 November 2002

Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a major cause of foodborne illness in the United States. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) is the molecular epidemiologic method mostly commonly used to identify food-borne outbreaks. Although PFGE is a powerful epidemiologic tool, it has disadvantages that make a DNA sequence-based approach potentially attractive. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analyzes the internal fragments of housekeeping genes to establish genetic relatedness between isolates. We sequenced selected portions of seven housekeeping genes and two membrane protein genes (ompA and espA) of 77 isolates that were diverse by PFGE to determine whether there was sufficient sequence variation to be useful as an epidemiologic tool. There was no DNA sequence diversity in the sequenced portions of the seven housekeeping genes and espA. For ompA, all but five isolates had sequence identical to that of the reference strains. E. coli O157:H7 has a striking lack of genetic diversity in the genes we explored, even among isolates that are clearly distinct by PFGE. Other approaches to identify improved molecular subtyping methods for E. coli 0157:H7 are needed.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Research Unit, 521 Parran Hall, 130 DeSoto St., Pittsburgh, PA 15261. Phone: (412) 624-1599. Fax: (412) 624-2256. E-mail: lharriso{at}edc.pitt.edu.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, February 2003, p. 675-679, Vol. 41, No. 2
0095-1137/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.41.2.675-679.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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