Clonal relationship among invasive and non-invasive strains of enteroinvasive Escherichia coli serogroups

Marina Martinez, Thomas Whittan, Elizabeth McGraw, Josias Rodrigues, Luiz Trabulsi

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17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The genetic relatedness among 96 invasive Escherichia coli belonging to several serogroups and 13 non-invasive of several serotypes that share the same O antigen was investigated by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis analysis. The invasive strains were isolated in different parts of the world and most of them recovered from dysentery. Twenty-nine electrophoretic types were distinguished and the most invasive strains were found to belong to two major lineages. These results suggested that the invasive ability in these strains has evolved in divergent chromosomal backgrounds, presumably through the horizontal spread of plasmid-borne invasion genes. The maintenance of invasive phenotypes in separate lineages suggests that this ability confers a selective advantage to invasive strains.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)145 - 151
Number of pages7
JournalFEMS Microbiology Letters
Volume172
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1999
Externally publishedYes

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