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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 80(2), 2009, pp. 294-301
Copyright © 2009 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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SHORT REPORT


High Prevalence of Serine Protease Autotransporter Cytotoxins among Strains of Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli

Nadia Boisen, Fernando Ruiz-Perez, Flemming Scheutz, Karen A. Krogfelt, AND James P. Nataro*
Department of Bacteriology, Mycology and Parasitology, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark: Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine, Center for Vaccine Development, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland

 

ABSTRACT

Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) pathogenesis is thought to comprise intestinal colonization followed by the release of enterotoxins and cytotoxins. Here, we use a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to determine the prevalence of 10 genes encoding serine protease autotransporter toxins (SPATEs) in a collection of clinical EAEC isolates. Eighty-six percent of EAEC strains harbored genes encoding one or more class I cytotoxic SPATE proteins (Pet, Sat, EspP, or SigA). Two Class II, non-cytotoxic, SPATE genes were found among EAEC strains: pic and sepA, each originally described in Shigella flexneri 2a. Using a multiplex PCR for five SPATE genes (pet, sat, sigA, pic, and sepA), we found that most of the Shigella isolates also harbored more than one SPATE, whereas members of most other E. coli pathotypes rarely harbored a cytotoxic SPATE gene. SPATEs may be relevant to the pathogenesis of both EAEC and Shigella spp.

Received July 7, 2008. Accepted for publication October 2, 2008.

Acknowledgments: We thank Dr. Søren Persson for helpful advice regarding primer design, Erik Juncker Boll for verifying PCR results, Thomas Lund Sørensen for providing the six strains from the Danish Integrated Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring and Research Program in Table 2, and Jeppe Boel for providing the six strains from the Danish food surveillance program.

Financial support: This study was supported by U.S. Public Health Service grant AI33096 to James P. Nataro and Danish Council for Strategic Research grant 2101-07-0023 to Karen A. Krogfelt. Nadia Boisen was supported in part by Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark.

* Address correspondence to James P. Nataro, Center for Vaccine Development, 685 West Baltimore Street, Room 480, Baltimore, MD 21201-1509. E-mail: jnataro{at}medicine.umaryland.edu

Authors’ addresses: Nadia Boisen, Flemming Scheutz, and Karen A. Krogfelt, Department of Bacteriology, Mycology and Parasitology, Statens Serum Institut, Artillerivej 5, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark. Fernando Ruiz-Perez and James P. Nataro, Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine, Center for Vaccine Development, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 685 West Baltimore Street, Room 480, Baltimore, MD 21201-1509.






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