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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Environmental Microbial & Food Safety Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #341152
Research Project: Antimicrobial Resistance and Ecology of Zoonotic Foodborne Pathogens in Dairy Cattle

Location: Environmental Microbial & Food Safety Laboratory

Title: Genome sequences of five multidrug resistant Escherichia coli ST117 isolates recovered from dairy calves

Author
item KIM, SEON-WOO - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)
item KARNS, JEFFERY - Retired ARS Employee
item Van Kessel, Jo Ann
item Haley, Bradd

Submitted to: Genome Announcements
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/5/2017
Publication Date: 8/17/2017
Citation: Kim, S., Karns, J.S., Van Kessel, J.S., Haley, B.J. 2017. Genome sequences of five multidrug resistant Escherichia coli ST117 isolates recovered from dairy calves. Genome Announcements. https://doi.org/10.1128/genomeA.00732-17.

Interpretive Summary: Escherichia coli (E. coli) resides in the gut of humans and other animals and can potentially contaminate milk, meat, and the environment. E. coli strains can be either non-pathogenic or pathogenic to humans, with some groups of pathogenic strains causing gastrointestinal infections and others causing infections outside of the gut such as urinary tract infections. E. coli sequence type 117 (ST117) encompasses a group of strains that has been isolated from human extraintestinal infections as well as fatal infections in poultry (colibacillosis). The prevalence and characterics of E. coli ST117 in dairy cows is currently unknown. We isolated this sequence type from approximately 4% of fecal samples collected from dairy calves in Pennsylvania. These isolates were resistant to between 1 and 12 antibiotics. We sequenced the genomes of six of these isolates and analyzed their relatedness to ST117 strains collected from humans and other animals. Results of our analysis indicate that E. coli ST117 strains recovered from dairy calves are closely related to those from human and poultry infections indicating that cows may be a potential reservoir of ST117 strains that cause illness in humans.

Technical Abstract: Escherichia coli ST117 have been recovered from poultry with colibacillosis, as well as urinary tract infections and fatal septic infections in humans. To further investigate ST117 isolates recovered from non-poultry food animals we sequenced the genomes of six ST117 isolates from dairy calves in Pennsylvania.