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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2007, p. 4769-4775, Vol. 73, No. 15
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00873-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Identification of Human-Pathogenic Strains of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli from Food by a Combination of Serotyping and Molecular Typing of Shiga Toxin Genes{triangledown}

Lothar Beutin,* Angelika Miko, Gladys Krause, Karin Pries, Sabine Haby, Katja Steege, and Nadine Albrecht

National Reference Laboratory for Escherichia coli, Centre for Infectiology and Pathogen Characterization, Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Diedersdorfer Weg 1, D-12277 Berlin, Germany

Received 18 April 2007/ Accepted 25 May 2007

We examined 219 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains from meat, milk, and cheese samples collected in Germany between 2005 and 2006. All strains were investigated for their serotypes and for genetic variants of Shiga toxins 1 and 2 (Stx1 and Stx2). stx1 or variant genes were detected in 88 (40.2%) strains and stx2 and variants in 177 (80.8%) strains. Typing of stx genes was performed by stx-specific PCRs and by analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) of PCR products. Major genotypes of the Stx1 (stx1, stx1c, and stx1d) and the Stx2 (stx2, stx2d, stx2-O118, stx2e, and stx2g) families were detected, and multiple types of stx genes coexisted frequently in STEC strains. Only 1.8% of the STEC strains from food belonged to the classical enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) types O26:H11, O103:H2, and O157:H7, and only 5.0% of the STEC strains from food were positive for the eae gene, which is a virulence trait of classical EHEC. In contrast, 95 (43.4%) of the food-borne STEC strains carried stx2 and/or mucus-activatable stx2d genes, an indicator for potential high virulence of STEC for humans. Most of these strains belonged to serotypes associated with severe illness in humans, such as O22:H8, O91:H21, O113:H21, O174:H2, and O174:H21. stx2 and stx2d STEC strains were found frequently in milk and beef products. Other stx types were associated more frequently with pork (stx2e), lamb, and wildlife meat (stx1c). The combination of serotyping and stx genotyping was found useful for identification and for assignment of food-borne STEC to groups with potential lower and higher levels of virulence for humans.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: National Reference Laboratory for Escherichia coli, Centre for Infectiology and Pathogen Characterization (4Z), Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Diedersdorfer Weg 1, D-12277 Berlin, Germany. Phone: 49 30 8412 2259. Fax: 49 30 8412 2983. E-mail: l.beutin{at}bfr.bund.de

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 8 June 2007.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2007, p. 4769-4775, Vol. 73, No. 15
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00873-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

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