J Vet Sci.  2011 Mar;12(1):49-55. 10.4142/jvs.2011.12.1.49.

Virulence factors and genetic variability of uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from dogs and cats in Italy

• Tramuta C
• Nucera D
• Robino P
• Salvarani
• Nebbia P

• KMID: 1067337
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4142/jvs.2011.12.1.49

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 alpha-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.

Keyword

cats; dogs; Escherichia coli; genetic variability; virulence factors

MeSH Terms

Animals
Bacterial Proteins/analysis
Bacterial Toxins/analysis
Cat Diseases/microbiology
Cats
Cystitis/*microbiology
Dog Diseases/microbiology
Dogs
Escherichia coli Infections/complications/microbiology/*veterinary
Escherichia coli Proteins/analysis
Female
Genetic Variation
Hemolysin Proteins/analysis
Italy
Male
Operon
Phylogeny
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Pyelonephritis/*microbiology
Uropathogenic Escherichia coli/classification/*genetics/i
Virulence Factors/*genetics

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Dendrogram obtained combining repetitive extragenic palindromic- and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus-PCR results. The following is reported for each strain: species, phylogroup, and virulence pattern. Virulence patterns are coded as follows: the number represents the number of virulence genes revealed by PCR and the letter, the unique combination of the genes.

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