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MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry as a tool for the discrimination of high-risk Escherichia coli clones from phylogenetic groups B2 (ST131) and D (ST69, ST405, ST393)

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Abstract

Reliable, quick and low-cost methods are needed for the early detection of multidrug-resistant and highly virulent high-risk B2 and D Escherichia coli clones or clonal complexes (HiRCC). Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) seems to have a good discriminatory potential at different subspecies levels, but it was never evaluated for the discrimination of E. coli clones. We assessed the potential of MALDI-TOF MS coupled to multivariate data analysis to discriminate representative E. coli B2 and D HiRCC. Seventy-three E. coli isolates from B2 (including ST131 and B2 non-ST131 clones) and D (ST69, ST393, ST405) with variable pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns, origins and dates (1980–2010) were tested. MS spectra were acquired from independent extracts obtained from different plate cultures in two different Microflex LT MALDI-TOF devices (Bruker) after a standard extraction procedure. MALDI-TOF MS fingerprinting analysis revealed a good discriminatory ability between the four HiRCC analysed (ST131, ST69, ST405, ST393) and between B2 ST131 and other B2 non-ST131 isolates. Clusters defined by MALDI-TOF MS were consistent with the clonal complexes assigned by multilocus sequence typing (MLST), although differences were detected regarding the composition of clusters obtained by the comparison of PFGE profiles. We demonstrate, for the first time, that characteristic mass fingerprints of different E. coli HiRCC are sufficiently discriminatory and robust to enable their differentiation by MALDI-TOF MS, which might represent a promising tool for the optimisation of infection control, individual patient management and large-scale epidemiological studies of public health relevance. The good correlation between phenotypic and genotypic features further corroborates phylogenetic relationships delineated by MLST.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by FEDER funds through the Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade—COMPETE and by National Funds through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through grant numbers EXPL/DTP-EPI/0196/2012 and FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027745, and also PEst-C/EQB/LA0006/2013, and an ESCMID research grant. The work received also inancial support from the European Union (FEDER funds) under the framework of QREN through Project NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000066. AN was supported by a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Programme (PIEF-GA-2009-255512) and CS was supported by a post-doctoral grant (SFRH/BPD/70548/2010). Work at the Hospital Ramón y Cajal (RC and TMC’s groups) is funded by grants from the European Union (EVOTAR-LSHM-2011-282004 and R-GNOSIS-LHSM-2011-282512), the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness—ISCIII of Spain (PI12/01581, REIPI-RD12/0015) and the regional government of Madrid (S2010/BMD2414_PROMPT-CM).

Conflict of interest

Rafael Cantón has participated in educational programmes organised by Bruker and in consultancy activities organised by Thermo Fisher.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. REQUIMTE, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Â. Novais & C. Sousa

  2. Servicio de Microbiología, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal and Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Sanitaria (IRYCIS), Madrid, Spain

    J. de Dios Caballero, A. Fernandez-Olmos, T. M. Coque & R. Cantón

  3. REQUIMTE, Laboratório de Química Analítica, Departamento de Ciências Químicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    J. Lopes

  4. Serviço de Microbiologia, Centro Hospitalar do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    H. Ramos

  5. CIBER en Epidemiología y Salud Publica (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

    T. M. Coque

  6. Red Española de Patología Infecciosa (REIPI), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

    J. de Dios Caballero & R. Cantón

  7. REQUIMTE, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira nº 228, 4050-313, Porto, Portugal

    L. Peixe

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  1. Â. Novais
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Novais, Â., Sousa, C., de Dios Caballero, J. et al. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry as a tool for the discrimination of high-risk Escherichia coli clones from phylogenetic groups B2 (ST131) and D (ST69, ST405, ST393). Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 33, 1391–1399 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-014-2071-5

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