Defining the Genetic Features of O-Antigen Biosynthesis Gene Cluster and Performance of an O-Antigen Serotyping Scheme for Escherichia albertii

Frontiers in Microbiology

Pengcheng Du¹  Yanwen Xiong²  Huaiqi Jing²  Jianguo Xu²  Yanmei Xu²  Han Zheng²  Jianping Wang²  Ling Zhang³  Qun Li³  Xiang Liu³  Guodong Yan³  Nianli Zou³  Xinqiong Li³  Zhengdong Zhang³  Hong Wang³ 

[1] Beijing Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Institute of Infectious Diseases, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China;State Key Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China;Zigong Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zigong, China;

关键词: Escherichia albertii;    O-AGC;    serotype;    antiserum;    xTAG Luminex;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmicb.2017.01857

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Escherichia albertii is a newly described and emerging diarrheagenic pathogen responsible for outbreaks of gastroenteritis. Serotyping plays an important role in diagnosis and epidemiological studies for pathogens of public health importance. The diversity of O-antigen biosynthesis gene clusters (O-AGCs) provides the primary basis for serotyping. However, little is known about the distribution and diversity of O-AGCs of E. albertii strains. Here, we presented a complete sequence set for the O-AGCs from 52 E. albertii strains and identified seven distinct O-AGCs. Six of these were also found in 15 genomes of E. albertii strains deposited in the public database. Possession of wzy/wzx genes in each O-AGC strongly suggest that O-antigens of E. albertii were synthesized by the Wzx/Wzy-dependent pathway. Furthermore, we performed an O-antigen serotyping scheme for E. albertii based on specific antisera against seven O-antigens and a high throughput xTAG Luminex assay to simultaneously detect seven O-AGCs. Both methods accurately identified serotypes of 64 tested E. albertii strains. Our data revealed the high-level diversity of O-AGCs in E. albertii. We also provide valuable methods to reliably identify and serotype this bacterium.

【 授权许可】

Unknown