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Infection and Immunity, December 2002, p. 7185-7186, Vol. 70, No. 12
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.12.7185-7186.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Escherichia coli Pathogenicity Island-Like Domains

LETTER
In their molecular epidemiological analysis of
Escherichia coli urosepsis isolates, Bingen-Bidois et al. interpret the finding
of a pathogenicity island (PAI) II
J96-like domain in multiple
ribotypes as conflicting with previous reports, which ostensibly
describe this element as being confined to a single clone (
1).
This is potentially misleading, since the two references cited
actually pertain to
papG allele I, which is a hallmark of a
different PAI from that of strain J96, i.e., PAI I. Indeed,
papG allele I, which was absent from the population analyzed
by Bingen-Bidois et al. (rather than being found in multiple
ribotypes), is quite rare, having been found almost exclusively
in strains closely related to strain J96 (
4). In contrast, many
previous reports have documented the co-occurrence of
papG allele
III,
hly, and
cnf1 (which implies the presence of a PAI II
J96-like
domain, as discussed by Bingen-Bidois et al.) in multiple group
B2-derived lineages (
3). These include clonal groups 1 and 2
of Cherifi et al. (
2) (which equate, respectively, electrophoretic
types [ETs] 1 and 21 of Whittam et al. [
7] and ETs 47 and 42
of Maslow et al. [
6], the latter clonal group including archetypal
strain 536), the O2:K5/K7:H1 clonal group (ET 39 of Maslow et
al.), and the O18:K1:H7 clonal group that includes archetypal
strains RS218 (meningitis) and NU14 (cystitis) (
3,
5).

REFERENCES
1 - Bingen-Bidois, M., O. Clermont, S. Bonacorsi, M. Terki, N. Brahimi, C. Loukil, D. Barraud, and E. Bingen. 2002. Phylogenetic analysis and prevalence of urosepsis strains of Escherichia coli bearing pathogenicity island-like domains. Infect. Immun. 70:3216-3226.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2 - Cherifi, A., M. Contrepois, B. Picard, P. Oullet, I. Orskov, F. Orskov, and J. De Rycke. 1991. Clonal relationships among Escherichia coli serogroup O6 isolates from human and animal infections. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 80:225-230.[CrossRef]
3 - Johnson, J. R., T. T. O'Bryan, M. A. Kuskowski, and J. N. Maslow. 2001. Ongoing horizontal and vertical transmission of virulence genes and papA alleles among Escherichia coli blood isolates from patients with diverse-source bacteremia. Infect. Immun. 69:5363-5374.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
4 - Johnson, J. R., A. L. Stell, N. Kaster, C. Fasching, and T. T. O'Bryan. 2001. Novel molecular variants of allele I of the Escherichia coli P fimbrial adhesin gene papG. Infect. Immun. 69:2318-2327.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
5 - Johnson, J. R., S. J. Weissman, A. L. Stell, E. Tritchina, D. E. Dykhuizen, and E. V. Sokurenko. 2001. Clonal and pathotypic analysis of archetypal Escherichia coli cystitis isolate NU14. J. Infect. Dis. 184:1556-1565.[CrossRef][Medline]
6 - Maslow, J. N., T. S. Whittam, C. F. Gilks, R. A. Wilson, M. E. Mulligan, K. S. Adams, and R. D. Arbeit. 1995. Clonal relationships among bloodstream isolates of Escherichia coli. Infect. Immun. 63:2409-2417.[Abstract]
7 - Whittam, T. S., M. L. Wolfe, and R. A. Wilson. 1989. Genetic relationships among Escherichia coli isolates causing urinary tract infections in humans and animals. Epidemiol. Infect. 102:37-46.[Medline]
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James R. Johnson*
Infectious Diseases (111F) Minneapolis VA Medical Center 1 Veterans Dr. Minneapolis, MN 55417
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* Phone: (612) 725-2000, ext. 4185 Fax: (612) 727-5995 E-mail: johns007{at}umn.edu. |
Authors' Reply

LETTER
We appreciate the opportunity to reply to the letter submitted
by Dr. Johnson in response to our recent article (
1). Concerning
the references that we cited (
8,
9), it must be mentioned that
in those studies the J96-like strains contained not only
papGI (potentially PAI I from strain J96) but also
papGIII (potentially
PAI II). We agree with Dr. Johnson that the co-occurrence of
papGIII,
hly, and
cnf1 was found in multiple group B2-derived
lineages (
7). However, it must be pointed out not only that
the presence of the PAI II
J96-like domain in our collection
of strains was deduced from the co-occurrence of
papGIII,
hly,
and
cnf1, as was suggested, but also that (i) we screened for
the presence of the gene
hra, another characteristic gene of
this PAI, (ii) we demonstrated the colocalization of all these
genes, and (iii) we determined their location in the vicinity
of two different tRNA genes. We believe that these different
characterizations are a minimal prerequisite to suggest the
presence of a PAI II
J96-like domain since the genes composing
this PAI (e.g.,
pap or
hly) may belong to several different
PAIs (
4). None of the reports cited have achieved such a characterization
(
3,
10,
11,
12).
Finally, we agree that O18:K1:H7, a very well-characterized clonal group (6, 7), harbored all of the characteristics mentioned, suggesting the presence of a PAI IJ96-like domain (2). However, this has only been firmly demonstrated very recently (5).

REFERENCES
1 - Bingen-Bidois, M., O. Clermont, S. Bonacorsi, M. Terki, N. Brahimi, C. Loukil, D. Barraud, and E. Bingen. 2002. Phylogenetic analysis and prevalence of urosepsis strains of Escherichia coli bearing pathogenicity island-like domains. Infect. Immun. 70:3216-3226.
2 - Bonacorsi, S. P., O. Clermont, C. Tinsley, I. Le Gall, J. C. Beaudoin, J. Elion, X. Nassif, and E. Bingen. 2000. Identification of regions of the Escherichia coli chromosome specific for neonatal meningitis-associated strains. Infect. Immun. 68:2096-2101.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
3 - Cherifi, A., M. Contrepois, B. Picard, P. Goullet, I. Orskov, F. Orskov, and J. De Rycke. 1991. Clonal relationships among Escherichia coli serogroup 06 isolates from human and animal infections. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 80:225-230.
4 - Hacker, J., J. Blum-Oehler, B. Janke, G. Nagy, and W. Hoebel. 1999. Pathogenicity islands of extraintestinal Escherichia coli, p. 59-76. In J. B. Kaper and J. Hacker (ed.), Pathogenicity islands and other mobile virulence elements. ASM Press, Washington, D.C.
5 - Houdouin, V., S. Bonacorsi, N. Brahimi, O. Clermont, X. Nassif, and E. Bingen. 2002. Uropathogenicity island contributes to the pathogenicity of Escherichia coli strains that cause neonatal meningitis. Infect. Immun 70: 5865-5869.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
6 - Johnson, J. R., P. Delavari, and T. T. O'Bryan. 2001. Escherichia coli O18:K1:H7 isolates from patients with acute cystitis and neonatal meningitis exhibit common phylogenetic origins and virulence factor profiles. J. Infect. Dis. 183:425-434.[CrossRef][Medline]
7 - Johnson, J. R., T. T. O'Bryan, M. Kuskowski, and J. N. Maslow. 2001. Ongoing horizontal and vertical transmission of virulence genes and papA alleles among Escherichia coli blood isolates from patients with diverse-source bacteremia. Infect. Immun. 69:5363-5374.
8 - Johnson, J. R., T. A. Russo, F. Scheutz, J. J. Brown, L. Zhang, K. Palin, C. Rode, C. Bloch, C. F. Marrs, and B. Foxman. 1997. Discovery of disseminated J96-like strains of uropathogenic Escherichia coli O4:H5 containing genes for both papG (J96) (class 1) and prsG (J96) (class III) Gal (
1-4) Gal-binding adhesins. J. Infect. Dis. 175:983-988.[Medline]
9 - Johnson, J. R., A. E. Stapleton, T. A. Russo, F. Scheutz, J. J. Brown, and J. N. Maslow. 1997. Characteristics and prevalence within serogroup O4 of a J96-like clonal group of uropathogenic Escherichia coli O4:H5 containing the class I and class III alleles of papG. Infect. Immun. 65:2153-2159.[Abstract]
10 - Johnson, J. R., S. J. Weissman, A. L. Stell, E. Trintchina, D. E. Dykhuizen, and E. V. Sokurenko. 2001. Clonal and pathotypic analysis of archetypal Escherichia coli cystitis isolate NU14. J. Infect. Dis. 184:1556-1565.
11 - Maslow, J. N., T. S. Whittam, C. F. Gilks, R. A. Wilson, M. E. Mulligan, K. S. Adams, and R. D. Arbeit. 1995. Clonal relationships among bloodstream isolates of Escherichia coli. Infect. Immun. 63:2409-2417.
12 - Whittam, T. S., M. L. Wolfe, and R. A. Wilson. 1989. Genetic relationships among Escherichia coli isolates causing urinary tract infections in humans and animals. Epidemiol. Infect. 102:37-46.
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Martine Bingen-Bidois Mustapha Terki Dominique Barraud
Laboratoire de Bactériologie Centre Hospitalier de Gonesse Gonesse, France
Stéphane Bonacorsi Olivier Clermont Naïma Brahimi Chawki Loukil Edouard Bingen*
Service de Microbiologie Hôpital Robert Debré 48 boulevard Sérurier Paris, France
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* Phone: 33 1 40 03 23 40 Fax: 33 1 40 03 24 50 E-mail: edouard.bingen{at}rdb.ap-hop-paris.fr. |
Infection and Immunity, December 2002, p. 7185-7186, Vol. 70, No. 12
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.12.7185-7186.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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