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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Characterization and Interventions for Foodborne Pathogens » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #414646
Research Project: Molecular Analysis of Foodborne Pathogen Responses to Stressors

Location: Characterization and Interventions for Foodborne Pathogens

Title: Food as a potential source of uropathogenic e. coli

Author
item Guragain, Manita
item Kanrar, Siddhartha
item Bosilevac, Joseph - Mick
item Dickey, Aaron
item Liu, Yanhong

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/16/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Global incidence and multidrug resistance (MDR) of urinary tract infections (UTI) are increasing. The most common bacterial cause of UTI is Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC), a heterogenous group of extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC). Recent studies have highlighted the possible foodborne origin of ExPEC; however, its sources are poorly understood. Therefore, we investigated the genetic relatedness between human clinical and poultry ExPEC to assess the risk of poultry as a potential reservoir of high risk ExPEC. A total of 79 E. coli isolates (35 human clinical UPEC and 44 poultry ExPEC) were confirmed to be ExPEC by multiplex PCR. Whole genomes were sequenced using long- or short-read technologies and assembled using Flye 2.9.2 and in-house GEAbash bioinformatic pipeline. Prevalence was compared using Fisher’s exact test. Core genomes were aligned using Parsnp 1.2 and maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree was estimated using PhyML 3.3.20180214. Phylogenetic analysis grouped ExPEC by phylogroup and sequence type (ST). Six poultry ExPEC clustered together with human UPEC, suggesting their close phylogenetic relatedness. Two of these poultry ExPEC belonged to phylogroup B2 and sequence type ST95, a group known for their persistence in human gut and high virulence. Further, majority of the poultry isolates belonged to phylogroups B2 (12/44) and F (10/44), the latter known to be associated with zoonotic risk. Whole genome analysis identified 70/101 shared virulence genes between poultry and human clinical isolates. Prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were similar in poultry (31/44) and human isolates (16/35). One fourth of poultry ExPEC (11/44) carried ARGs against three or more antibiotic classes, hence are MDR. High genetic similarity of human UPEC and poultry ExPEC belonging to a high-risk group, along with an abundance of virulence factors and ARGs indicates poultry as a potential source of high risk ExPEC.