Abstract
Urinary tract infection (UTI) is common amongst children and recurs in 10–30 % of cases. The differences between Escherichia coli strains causing UTI among hospitalised children and adults remains to be fully elucidated. Here, we examined the genetic relatedness and virulence gene (VG) profiles of a collection of E. coli causing UTI among hospitalised children and adults. Genetic relatedness among the strains was investigated using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis and the strains were characterised using a combination of phylogenetic grouping, the ability to form biofilm and the presence of antigen 43 (Ag43) and its five known alleles, as well 20 VGs associated with uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC). RAPD analysis resolved six major clusters, with two clusters (A and B) consisting almost exclusively of E. coli isolated from children. Isolates from children had a higher prevalence of alpha-haemolysin (hlyA, p < 0.05) and group II capsular polysaccharide synthesis genes (kpsMT II, p < 0.01) than adults. In contrast, E. coli strains from adults had a higher prevalence of invasive ibeA (p < 0.05) and Ag43 (agn43) (p < 0.05) genes, and produced significantly (p < 0.001) more biofilm than E. coli from children. Adult isolates also carried significantly (p < 0.05) more agn43 allele RS218 compared to isolates from children, which carried significantly (p < 0.05) more of the agn43 allele bCFT073. Our results suggest that bacterial virulence factors play an important role in UTI among hospitalised children; however, further research will determine whether these findings apply to a larger cohort and other clinical settings for UTI in children and adults.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Mak RH, Kuo H-J (2006) Pathogenesis of urinary tract infection: an update. Curr Opin Pediatr 18:148–152
Russo TA, Johnson JR (2003) Medical and economic impact of extraintestinal infections due to Escherichia coli: focus on an increasingly important endemic problem. Microbes Infect 5:449–456
Shaikh N, Morone NE, Bost JE, Farrell MH (2008) Prevalence of urinary tract infection in childhood: a meta-analysis. Pediatr Infect Dis J 27(4):302–308
Jakobsson B, Esbjörner E, Hansson S (1999) Minimum incidence and diagnostic rate of first urinary tract infection. Pediatrics 104:222–226
Williams G, Craig JC (2009) Prevention of recurrent urinary tract infection in children. Curr Opin Infect Dis 22:72–76
Svanborg C (2013) Urinary tract infections in children: microbial virulence versus host susceptibility. Adv Exp Med Biol 764:205–210
Bien J, Sokolova O, Bozko P (2012) Role of uropathogenic Escherichia coli virulence factors in development of urinary tract infection and kidney damage. Int J Nephrol 2012:681473
Foxman B (2002) Epidemiology of urinary tract infections: incidence, morbidity, and economic costs. Am J Med 133(Suppl 1A):5S–13S
Kaper JB, Nataro JP, Mobley HLT (2004) Pathogenic Escherichia coli. Nat Rev Microbiol 2:123–140
Ulett GC, Totsika M, Schaale K, Carey AJ, Sweet MJ, Schembri MA (2013) Uropathogenic Escherichia coli virulence and innate immune responses during urinary tract infection. Curr Opin Microbiol 16:100–107
Cavalieri SJ, Snyder IS (1982) Effect of Escherichia coli α-hemolysin on human peripheral leukocyte viability in vitro. Infect Immun 36:455–461
Mobley HL, Green DM, Trifillis AL, Johnson DE, Chippendale GR, Lockatell CV, Jones BD, Warren J (1990) Pyelonephritogenic Escherichia coli and killing of cultured human renal proximal tubular epithelial cells: role of hemolysin in some strains. Infect Immun 58(5):1281–1289
Trifillis AL, Donnenberg MS, Cui X, Russell RG, Utsalo SJ, Mobley HL, Warren JW (1994) Binding to and killing of human renal epithelial cells by hemolytic P-fimbriated E. coli. Kidney Int 46:1083–1091
Johnson JR (1991) Virulence factors in Escherichia coli urinary tract infection. Clin Microbiol Rev 4(1):80–128
Smith YC, Rasmussen SB, Grande KK, Conran RM, O’Brien AD (2008) Hemolysin of uropathogenic Escherichia coli evokes extensive shedding of the uroepithelium and hemorrhage in bladder tissue within the first 24 hours after intraurethral inoculation of mice. Infect Immun 76(7):2978–2990
Hilbert DW, Paulish-Miller TE, Tan CK, Carey AJ, Ulett GC, Mordechai E, Adelson ME, Gygax SE, Trama JP (2012) Clinical Escherichia coli isolates utilize alpha-hemolysin to inhibit in vitro epithelial cytokine production. Microbes Infect 14:628–638
Wells TJ, Tree JJ, Ulett GC, Schembri MA (2007) Autotransporter proteins: novel targets at the bacterial cell surface. FEMS Microbiol Lett 274:163–172
Ulett GC, Valle J, Beloin C, Sherlock O, Ghigo J-M, Schembri MA (2007) Functional analysis of antigen 43 in uropathogenic Escherichia coli reveals a role in long-term persistence in the urinary tract. Infect Immun 75(7):3233–3244
Mabbett AN, Ulett GC, Watts RE, Tree JJ, Totsika M, Ong CL, Wood JM, Monaghan W, Looke DF, Nimmo GR, Svanborg C, Schembri MA (2009) Virulence properties of asymptomatic bacteriuria Escherichia coli. Int J Med Microbiol 299:53–63
Danese PN, Pratt LA, Dove SL, Kolter R (2000) The outer membrane protein, Antigen 43, mediates cell-to-cell interactions within Escherichia coli biofilms. Mol Microbiol 37(2):424–432
Lüthje P, Brauner A (2010) Ag43 promotes persistence of uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolates in the urinary tract. J Clin Microbiol 48(6):2316–2317
Zoetendal EG, Akkermans ADL, Akkermans-van Vliet WM, de Visser JAGM, de Vos WM (2001) The host genotype affects the bacterial community in the human gastronintestinal tract. Microb Ecol Health Dis 13(3):129–134
Chen J, Griffiths MW (1998) PCR differentiation of Escherichia coli from other Gram-negative bacteria using primers derived from the nucleotide sequences flanking the gene encoding the universal stress protein. Lett Appl Microbiol 27:369–371
Ramos NL, Saayman ML, Chapman TA, Tucker JR, Smith HV, Faoagali J, Chin JC, Brauner A, Katouli M (2010) Genetic relatedness and virulence gene profiles of Escherichia coli strains isolated from septicaemic and uroseptic patients. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 29:15–23
Vollmerhausen TL, Ramos NL, Gündoğdu A, Robinson W, Brauner A, Katouli M (2011) Population structure and uropathogenic virulence-associated genes of fecal Escherichia coli of healthy young and elderly adults. J Med Microbiol 60:574–581
Clermont O, Bonacorsi S, Bingen E (2000) Rapid and simple determination of the Escherichia coli phylogenetic group. Appl Environ Microbiol 66(10):4555–4558
Johnson JR, Stell AL (2000) Extended virulence genotypes of Escherichia coli strains from patients with urosepsis in relation to phylogeny and host compromise. J Infect Dis 181(1):261–272
Restieri C, Garriss G, Locas MC, Dozois CM (2007) Autotransporter-encoding sequences are phylogenetically distributed among Escherichia coli clinical isolates and reference strains. Appl Environ Microbiol 73(5):1553–1562
Johnson JR, Kuskowski MA, O’Bryan TT, Colodner R, Raz R (2005) Virulence genotype and phylogenetic origin in relation to antibiotic resistance profile among Escherichia coli urine sample isolates from Israeli women with acute uncomplicated cystitis. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 49(1):26–31
Johnson JR, O’Bryan TT, Kuskowski M, Maslow JN (2001) Ongoing horizontal and vertical transmission of virulence genes and papA alleles among Escherichia coli blood isolates from patients with diverse-source bacteremia. Infect Immun 69(9):5363–5374
Kai-Larsen Y, Lüthje P, Chromek M, Peters V, Wang X, Holm Å, Kádas L, Hedlund KO, Johansson J, Chapman MR, Jacobson SH, Römling U, Agerberth B, Brauner A (2010) Uropathogenic Escherichia coli modulates immune responses and its curli fimbriae interact with the antimicrobial peptide LL-37. PLoS Pathog 6(7):e1001010
Vollmerhausen TL, Ramos NL, Dzung DTN, Brauner A (2013) Decoctions from Citrus reticulata Blanco seeds protect the uroepithelium against Escherichia coli invasion. J Ethnopharmacol 150(2):770–774
Cheng C-H, Tsau Y-K, Kuo C-Y, Su L-H, Lin T-Y (2010) Comparison of extended virulence genotypes for bacteria isolated from pediatric patients with urosepsis, acute pyelonephritis, and acute lobar nephronia. Pediatr Infect Dis J 29(8):736–740
Siegfried L, Kmeťová M, Puzová H, Molokáĉová M, Filka J (1994) Virulence-associated factors in Escherichia coli strains isolated from children with urinary tract infections. J Med Microbiol 41:127–132
Keane WF, Welch R, Gekker G, Peterson PK (1987) Mechanism of Escherichia coli α-hemolysin-induced injury to isolated renal tubular cells. Am J Pathol 126:350–357
Mulvey MA, Schilling JD, Hultgren SJ (2001) Establishment of a persistent Escherichia coli reservoir during the acute phase of a bladder infection. Infect Immun 69:4572–4579
Burns SM, Hull SI (1999) Loss of resistance to ingestion and phagocytic killing by O− and K− mutants of a uropathogenic Escherichia coli O75:K5 strain. Infect Immun 67(8):3757–3762
Kim KS, Itabashi H, Gemski P, Sadoff J, Warren RL, Cross AS (1992) The K1 capsule is the critical determinant in the development of Escherichia coli meningitis in the rat. J Clin Invest 90(3):897–905
Schembri MA, Dalsgaard D, Klemm P (2004) Capsule shields the function of short bacterial adhesins. J Bacteriol 186(5):1249–1257
Valle J, Da Re S, Henry N, Fontaine T, Balestrino D, Latour-Lambert P, Ghigo J-M (2006) Broad-spectrum biofilm inhibition by a secreted bacterial polysaccharide. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 103(33):12558–12563
Klemm P, Hjerrild L, Gjermansen M, Schembri MA (2004) Structure–function analysis of the self-recognizing Antigen 43 autotransporter protein from Escherichia coli. Mol Microbiol 51:283–296
Kjærgaard K, Schembri MA, Ramos C, Molin S, Klemm P (2000) Antigen 43 facilitates formation of multispecies biofilms. Environ Microbiol 2(6):695–702
Ulett GC, Webb RI, Schembri MA (2006) Antigen-43-mediated autoaggregation impairs motility in Escherichia coli. Microbiology 152:2101–2110
Schembri MA, Hjerrild L, Gjermansen M, Klemm P (2003) Differential expression of the Escherichia coli autoaggregation factor antigen 43. J Bacteriol 185(7):2236–2242
Soto SM, Smithson A, Horcajada JP, Martinez JA, Mensa JP, Vila J (2006) Implication of biofilm formation in the persistence of urinary tract infection caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli. Clin Microbiol Infect 12(10):1034–1036
Tapiainen T, Hanni A-M, Salo J, Ikäheimo I, Uhari M (2013) Escherichia coli biofilm formation and recurrences of urinary tract infections in children. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. doi:10.1007/s10096-013-1935-4
Salo J, Sevander JJ, Tapiainen T, Ikäheimo I, Pokka T, Koskela M, Uhari M (2009) Biofilm formation by Escherichia coli isolated from patients with urinary tract infections. Clin Nephrol 71(5):501–507
Acknowledgements
This study was internally funded by the School of Health and Sport Sciences of the University of the Sunshine Coast.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest with the organisation that sponsored this research and publications arising from this research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
ESM 1
(DOC 51 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vollmerhausen, T.L., Katouli, M. Molecular characterisation of Escherichia coli isolated from hospitalised children and adults with urinary tract infection. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 33, 975–982 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-013-2035-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-013-2035-1