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ARS Home » Plains Area » Clay Center, Nebraska » U.S. Meat Animal Research Center » Meat Safety and Quality » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #342124
Research Project: Mitigation Approaches for Foodborne Pathogens in Cattle and Swine for Use During Production and Processing

Location: Meat Safety and Quality

Title: Shiga toxin-producing serogroup O91 Escherichia coli strains isolated from food and environmental samples

Author
item FENG, PETER - Food And Drug Administration(FDA)
item DELANNOY, SABINE - French Agency For Food, Environmental And Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES)
item LACHER, DAVID - Food And Drug Administration(FDA)
item Bosilevac, Joseph - Mick
item FACH, PATRICK - French Agency For Food, Environmental And Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES)
item BEUTIN, LOTHAR - Federal Institute For Risk Assessment

Submitted to: Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/1/2017
Publication Date: 9/1/2017
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/5852141
Citation: Feng, P.C.H., Delannoy, S., Lacher, D.W., Bosilevac, J.M., Fach, P., Beutin, L. 2017. Shiga toxin-producing serogroup O91 Escherichia coli strains isolated from food and environmental samples. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 83(18):e01231-17. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.01231-17.

Interpretive Summary: Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) can cause very severe disease. STEC of serogroup O91 are commonly found in foods, animals and the environment. Disease reports for this STEC are rare, but can be severe and life threatening. This study examined STEC O91 isolated from foods, the environment and human disease, in the United States and Europe in order to better understand how different strains of STEC O91 are related to one another and cause disease. Four different serogroups of STEC O91 were identified. Of these, the STEC O91 serotype O91:H21 isolated from foods and the environment were similar to those from human disease suggesting that these strains may also have the potential to cause severe illness. This genetic characterization provides a greater understanding of the diversity of STEC O91.

Technical Abstract: Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains of the O91: H21 serotype have caused severe infections, including hemolytic-uremic syndrome. Strains of the O91 serogroup have been isolated from food, animals, and the environment worldwide but are not well characterized. We used a microarray and other molecular assays to examine 49 serogroup O91 strains (environmental, food, and clinical strains) for their virulence potential and phylogenetic relationships. Most of the isolates were identified to be strains of the O91:H21 and O91:H14 serotypes, with a few O91:H10 strains and one O91:H9 strain being identified. None of the strains had the eae gene, which codes for the intimin adherence protein, and many did not have some of the genetic markers that are common in other STEC strains. The genetic profiles of the strains within each serotype were similar but differed greatly between strains of different serotypes. The genetic profiles of the O91:H21 strains that we tested were identical or nearly identical to those of the clinical O91:H21 strains that have caused severe diseases. Multilocus sequence typing and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat analyses showed that the O91:H21 strains clustered within the STEC 1 clonal group but the other O91 serotype strains were phylogenetically diverse.