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Characterization of unconventional pathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from bloodstream infection: virulence beyond the opportunism

  • Bacterial and Fungal Pathogenesis - Research Paper
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Abstract

Extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) is the leading cause of urinary tract infection worldwide and a critical bloodstream infection agent. There are more than 50 virulence factors (VFs) related to ExPEC pathogenesis; however, many strains isolated from extraintestinal infections are devoid of these factors. Since opportunistic infections may occur in immunocompromised patients, E. coli strains that lack recognized VFs are considered opportunist, and their virulence potential is neglected. We assessed eleven E. coli strains isolated from bloodstream infections and devoid of the most common ExPEC VFs to understand their pathogenic potential. The strains were evaluated according to their capacity to interact in vitro with human eukaryotic cell lineages (Caco-2, T24, HEK293T, and A549 cells), produce type 1 fimbriae and biofilm in diverse media, resist to human sera, and be lethal to Galleria mellonella. One strain displaying all phenotypic traits was sequenced and evaluated. Ten strains adhered to Caco-2 (colon), eight to T24 (bladder), five to HEK-293 T (kidney), and four to A549 (lung) cells. Eight strains produced type 1 fimbriae, ten adhered to abiotic surfaces, nine were serum resistant, and seven were virulent in the G. mellonella model. Six of the eleven E. coli strains displayed traits compatible with pathogens, five of which were isolated from an immune-competent host. The genome of the EC175 strain, isolated from a patient with urosepsis, reveals that the strain belonged to ST504-A, and serotype O11:H11; harbors thirteen VFs genes, including genes encoding UpaG and yersiniabactin as the only ExPEC VFs identified. Together, our results suggest that the ExPEC pathotype includes pathogens from phylogroups A and B1, which harbor VFs that remain to be uncovered.

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Data availability

The Whole Genome Shotgun project of E. coli EC175 has been deposited at DDBJ/ENA/GenBank under the accession JALLIP000000000. The version described in this article is version JALLIP010000000.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Prof. Dr. Erika Suzuki and Prof. Dr. Nilton Lincopan for providing the A549 cell lineage, and the G. mellonella larvae, respectively. EC175 genome was sequenced using MicrobesNG (Birmingham Research Park, Birmingham, UK) sequencing service.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Council for Science and Technological Development (CNPq) [304760/2015–3 and 311283/2020–9 to TATG] and by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) [2017/14821-7 and 2018/17353–7 to TATG]; ACMS received PNPD fellowship [88882.306532/2018–01] from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Capes) under financial code 001; JFSN received scholarship from FAPESP [2019/21685–8], and LOT from CNPq [168193/2018–3].

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  1. Laboratório Experimental de Patogenicidade de Enterobactérias, Disciplina de Microbiologia, Departamento de Microbiologia, Imunologia e Parasitologia, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua Botucatu 862, Edifício Prof. Dr. Antônio C. Mattos Paiva, 3º Andar. Vila Clementino, São Paulo, SP, 04023-062, Brazil

    Ana Carolina M. Santos, José F. Santos-Neto, Liana O. Trovão & Tânia A. T. Gomes

  2. Laboratório de Patogênese de Enterobacterales, Disciplina de Microbiologia, Departamento de Microbiologia, Imunologia e Parasitologia, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Ricardo F. T. Romano & Rosa Maria Silva

  3. Departamento de Diagnóstico Por Imagem, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Ricardo F. T. Romano

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  1. Ana Carolina M. Santos
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  4. Ricardo F. T. Romano
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Contributions

Conceptualization: ACMS, RMS, and TATG. Formal analysis: ACMS. Funding acquisition: TATG. Investigation: ACMS, JFSN, LOT, and RFTR. Validation: ACMS, JFSN, and LOT. Project administration: ACMS. Resources: RMS, TATG. Supervision: ACMS, TATG. Visualization: ACMS. Writing — original draft: ACMS. Writing — review and editing: ACMS, JFSN, RMS, and TATG.

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Correspondence to Ana Carolina M. Santos or Tânia A. T. Gomes.

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This research was done with approval of the Research Ethics Committee of the Federal University of São Paulo—UNIFESP/São Paulo Hospital (CEP N 7140160317 from April 2017).

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Santos, A.C.M., Santos-Neto, J.F., Trovão, L.O. et al. Characterization of unconventional pathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from bloodstream infection: virulence beyond the opportunism. Braz J Microbiol 54, 15–28 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-022-00884-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-022-00884-1

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