Molecular typing and phylogenetic analysis of enteroinvasive Escherichia coli using the fliC gene sequence

• Published in: FEMS microbiology letters 2004-06, Vol.235 (2), p.259-264
• Main Authors: Amhaz, Juliana M.K, Andrade, Agda, Bando, Silvia Y, Tanaka, Tânia L, Moreira-Filho, Carlos A, Martinez, Marina B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bacterial Typing Techniques; Biological and medical sciences; Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific; Diarrhea - epidemiology; Diarrhea - microbiology; Enteroinvasive Escherichia coli; Epidemiology; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli - classification; Escherichia coli - genetics; Escherichia coli Infections - epidemiology; Escherichia coli Infections - microbiology; Flagella; Flagellin; Flagellin - genetics; Flagellin - metabolism; fliC gene; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Microbiology; Mycology; Pathogenicity, host-agent relations, miscellaneous strains, epidemiology; Phylogeny; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; RFLP analysis; Serotyping; Virology
• ISSN: 0378-1097; 1574-6968
• DOI: 10.1016/j.femsle.2004.04.044

Non-motile enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (EIEC) is serotyped based only on O antigen polymorphism, since H antigen epitopes, present on the flagellins, cannot be characterised in these bacteria. In this study, we demonstrate the presence of the flagellin-coding fliC gene in non-motile EIEC strains. Moreover, we were able to group the 11 most common non-motile EIEC serotypes into six different RFLP patterns of the fliC gene. Amplicons representing each RFLP pattern were sequenced. Sequencing data were used to construct a phylogenetic tree which showed two main clusters: one sharing similarity with Shigella dysenteriae and pathogenic E. coli, and the other being closer to non-pathogenic E. coli.