The Role of Mobile Genetic Elements in Virulence Factor Carriage from Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Cases of Escherichia coli Bacteriuria.

ABSTRACT: Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is extremely diverse genotypically and phenotypically. Individual strains can variably carry diverse virulence factors, making it challenging to define a molecular signature for this pathotype. For many bacterial pathogens, mobile genetic elements (MGEs) constitute a major mechanism of virulence factor acquisition. For urinary E. coli, the total distribution of MGEs and their role in the acquisition of virulence factors is not well defined, including in the context of symptomatic infection versus asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB). In this work, we characterized 151 isolates of E. coli, derived from patients with either urinary tract infection (UTI) or ASB. For both sets of E. coli, we catalogued the presence of plasmids, prophage, and transposons. We anal

SUBMITTER: Morales G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10269530 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature