Prevalence, structure and expression of urease genes in Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli from humans and the environment.
Prevalence, structure and expression of urease genes in Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli from humans and the environment.
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DOI:
10.1016/j.ijheh.2006.06.003
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发表时间:
2006-11
影响因子:
6
通讯作者:
D. Orth;K. Grif;M. Dierich;R. Würzner
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
D. Orth;K. Grif;M. Dierich;R. Würzner
A component of the ure gene cluster in E. coli, ureC, encodes a subunit of urease. We have investigated the distribution of ureC in 202 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) strains from Austria belonging to 61 different serotypes. These strains were of human (n=150), animal (n=38), and food (n=14) origin. ureC was present in all 72 E. coli O157:H7 and O157:NM (non-motile) strains, as well as in all 29 strains of serotypes O26:H11/NM, O111:H8/NM and O145:NM. In contrast, none of eight sorbitol-fermenting E. coli O157:NM were ureC-positive. ureC occurred significantly more frequently among STEC that carry eae (113 of 132; 85.6%) than among eae-negative STEC strains (four of 70; 5.7%; p<0.0001). However, only 4 (2%) of the 202 strains (3.4% of ureC positive strains) expressed urease activity. There was no significant association (p=0.56) between urease expression and the source of the isolates (humans vs. animals). Nucleotide sequence analysis of PCR amplicons derived from all seven genes of the ure cluster in STEC of 10 different serotypes demonstrated a high degree of homology (⩾99%), indicating a recent acquisition of not necessarily expressed ure genes.