Rapid identification of major Escherichia coli sequence types causing urinary tract and bloodstream infections.

ABSTRACT: Escherichia coli sequence types (STs) 69, 73, 95, and 131 are collectively responsible for a large proportion of E. coli urinary tract and bloodstream infections, and they differ markedly in their antibiotic susceptibilities. Here, we describe a novel PCR method to rapidly detect and distinguish these lineages. Three hundred eighteen published E. coli genomes were compared in order to identify signature sequences unique to each of the four major STs. The specificities of these sequences were assessed in silico by seeking them in an additional 98 genomes. A PCR assay was designed to amplify size-distinguishable fragments unique to the four lineages and was validated using 515 E. coli isolates of known STs. Genome comparisons identified 22 regions ranging in size from 335 bp to 26.5 kb that

SUBMITTER: Doumith M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4290915 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature