Comparative Genomics of Atypical Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli from Kittens and Children Identifies Bacterial Factors Associated with Virulence in Kittens.

ABSTRACT: Typical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (tEPEC) is a leading cause of diarrhea and associated death in children worldwide. Atypical EPEC (aEPEC) lacks the plasmid encoding bundle-forming pili and is considered less virulent, but the molecular mechanism of virulence is poorly understood. We recently identified kittens as a host for aEPEC where intestinal epithelial colonization was associated with diarrheal disease and death. The purposes of this study were to (i) determine the genomic similarity between kitten aEPEC and human aEPEC isolates and (ii) identify genotypic or phenotypic traits associated with virulence in kitten aEPEC. We observed no differences between kitten and human aEPEC in core genome content or gene cluster sequence identities, and no distinguishing genomic cont

SUBMITTER: Watson VE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8097272 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature