1. Defining the Genetic Features of O-Antigen Biosynthesis Gene Cluster and Performance of an O-Antigen Serotyping Scheme for Escherichia albertii
- Author
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Xiang Liu, Han Zheng, Yanwen Xiong, Zhengdong Zhang, Pengcheng Du, Qun Li, Jianping Wang, Ling Zhang, Yanmei Xu, Nianli Zou, Jianguo Xu, Huaiqi Jing, Guodong Yan, Xinqiong Li, and Hong Wang
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Serotype ,Microbiology (medical) ,030106 microbiology ,lcsh:QR1-502 ,Biology ,antiserum ,Genome ,Microbiology ,lcsh:Microbiology ,Escherichia albertii ,03 medical and health sciences ,Complete sequence ,Antigen ,Gene cluster ,serotype ,Gene ,Pathogen ,Original Research ,Genetics ,O-AGC ,biology.organism_classification ,stomatognathic diseases ,030104 developmental biology ,xTAG Luminex - Abstract
Escherichia albertii is a newly described and emerging diarrheagenic pathogen responsible for outbreaks of gastroenteritis. Serotyping plays an important role in diagnosis and epidemiological studies for pathogens of public health importance. The diversity of O-antigen biosynthesis gene clusters (O-AGCs) provides the primary basis for serotyping. However, little is known about the distribution and diversity of O-AGCs of E. albertii strains. Here, we presented a complete sequence set for the O-AGCs from 52 E. albertii strains and identified seven distinct O-AGCs. Six of these were also found in 15 genomes of E. albertii strains deposited in the public database. Possession of wzy/wzx genes in each O-AGC strongly suggest that O-antigens of E. albertii were synthesized by the Wzx/Wzy-dependent pathway. Furthermore, we performed an O-antigen serotyping scheme for E. albertii based on specific antisera against seven O-antigens and a high throughput xTAG Luminex assay to simultaneously detect seven O-AGCs. Both methods accurately identified serotypes of 64 tested E. albertii strains. Our data revealed the high-level diversity of O-AGCs in E. albertii. We also provide valuable methods to reliably identify and serotype this bacterium.
- Published
- 2017