Biochemical properties, enterohaemolysin production and plasmid carriage of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli strains

• Autor(a) principal: Souza,Mario RSM
• Data de Publicação: 2010
• Outros Autores: Klassen,Giseli, Toni,Fabiana De, Rigo,Liu U, Henkes,Caroline, Pigatto,Caroline P, Dalagassa,Cibelle de Borba, Fadel-Picheth,Cyntia MT
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
• Texto Completo: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02762010000300013
• topic: Escherichia coli; STEC; plasmid profile; enterohaemolysin; biochemical properties

Thirty-eight strains of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) were characterised in terms of biochemical properties, enterohaemolysin production and plasmid carriage. A wide variation in the biochemical properties was observed among the STEC, with 14 distinct biotypes identified. Biotype 1 was the most common, found in 29% of the strains. Enterohaemolysin production was detected in 29% of the strains. Most of the bacterial strains (95%) carried one or more plasmids and considerable heterogeneity in size and combinations was observed. Seven distinct plasmid profiles were identified. The most common profile, characterised by the presence of a single plasmid of ~90 kb, was found in 50% of these strains. These data indicate extensive diversity among STEC strains. No correlation was found among biotype, serotype, enterohaemolysin production and plasmid profile.