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Genomic Investigation of Virulence Potential in Shiga Toxin Escherichia coli (STEC) Strains From a Semi-Hard Raw Milk Cheese

Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) represents a significant cause of foodborne disease. In the last years, an increasing number of STEC infections associated with the consumption of raw and pasteurized milk cheese have been reported, contributing to raise the public awareness. The aim of...

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Autores principales: Cortimiglia, Claudia, Borney, Maria Francesca, Bassi, Daniela, Cocconcelli, Pier Sandro
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7882498/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33597935
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.629189
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author Cortimiglia, Claudia
Borney, Maria Francesca
Bassi, Daniela
Cocconcelli, Pier Sandro
author_facet Cortimiglia, Claudia
Borney, Maria Francesca
Bassi, Daniela
Cocconcelli, Pier Sandro
author_sort Cortimiglia, Claudia
collection PubMed
description Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) represents a significant cause of foodborne disease. In the last years, an increasing number of STEC infections associated with the consumption of raw and pasteurized milk cheese have been reported, contributing to raise the public awareness. The aim of this study is to evaluate the main genomic features of STEC strains isolated from a semi-hard raw milk cheese, focusing on their pathogenic potential. The analysis of 75 cheese samples collected during the period between April 2019 and January 2020 led to the isolation of seven strains from four stx-positive enrichment. The genome investigation evidenced the persistence of two serotypes, O174:H2 and O116:H48. All strains carried at least one stx gene and were negative for eae gene. The virulence gene pattern was homogeneous among the serogroup/ST and included adherence factors (lpfA, iha, ompT, papC, saa, sab, hra, and hes), enterohemolysin (ehxA), serum resistance (iss, tra), cytotoxin-encoding genes like epeA and espP, and the Locus of Adhesion and Autoaggregation Pathogenicity Islands (LAA PAIs) typically found in Locus of Enterocyte Effacement (LEE)-negative STEC. Genome plasticity indicators, namely, prophagic sequences carrying stx genes and plasmid replicons, were detected, leading to the possibility to share virulence determinants with other strains. Overall, our work adds new knowledge on STEC monitoring in raw milk dairy products, underlining the fundamental role of whole genome sequencing (WGS) for typing these unknown isolates. Since, up to now, some details about STEC pathogenesis mechanism is lacking, the continuous monitoring in order to protect human health and increase knowledge about STEC genetic features becomes essential.
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spelling pubmed-78824982021-02-16 Genomic Investigation of Virulence Potential in Shiga Toxin Escherichia coli (STEC) Strains From a Semi-Hard Raw Milk Cheese Cortimiglia, Claudia Borney, Maria Francesca Bassi, Daniela Cocconcelli, Pier Sandro Front Microbiol Microbiology Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) represents a significant cause of foodborne disease. In the last years, an increasing number of STEC infections associated with the consumption of raw and pasteurized milk cheese have been reported, contributing to raise the public awareness. The aim of this study is to evaluate the main genomic features of STEC strains isolated from a semi-hard raw milk cheese, focusing on their pathogenic potential. The analysis of 75 cheese samples collected during the period between April 2019 and January 2020 led to the isolation of seven strains from four stx-positive enrichment. The genome investigation evidenced the persistence of two serotypes, O174:H2 and O116:H48. All strains carried at least one stx gene and were negative for eae gene. The virulence gene pattern was homogeneous among the serogroup/ST and included adherence factors (lpfA, iha, ompT, papC, saa, sab, hra, and hes), enterohemolysin (ehxA), serum resistance (iss, tra), cytotoxin-encoding genes like epeA and espP, and the Locus of Adhesion and Autoaggregation Pathogenicity Islands (LAA PAIs) typically found in Locus of Enterocyte Effacement (LEE)-negative STEC. Genome plasticity indicators, namely, prophagic sequences carrying stx genes and plasmid replicons, were detected, leading to the possibility to share virulence determinants with other strains. Overall, our work adds new knowledge on STEC monitoring in raw milk dairy products, underlining the fundamental role of whole genome sequencing (WGS) for typing these unknown isolates. Since, up to now, some details about STEC pathogenesis mechanism is lacking, the continuous monitoring in order to protect human health and increase knowledge about STEC genetic features becomes essential. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-02-01 /pmc/articles/PMC7882498/ /pubmed/33597935 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.629189 Text en Copyright © 2021 Cortimiglia, Borney, Bassi and Cocconcelli. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Microbiology
Cortimiglia, Claudia
Borney, Maria Francesca
Bassi, Daniela
Cocconcelli, Pier Sandro
Genomic Investigation of Virulence Potential in Shiga Toxin Escherichia coli (STEC) Strains From a Semi-Hard Raw Milk Cheese
title Genomic Investigation of Virulence Potential in Shiga Toxin Escherichia coli (STEC) Strains From a Semi-Hard Raw Milk Cheese
title_full Genomic Investigation of Virulence Potential in Shiga Toxin Escherichia coli (STEC) Strains From a Semi-Hard Raw Milk Cheese
title_fullStr Genomic Investigation of Virulence Potential in Shiga Toxin Escherichia coli (STEC) Strains From a Semi-Hard Raw Milk Cheese
title_full_unstemmed Genomic Investigation of Virulence Potential in Shiga Toxin Escherichia coli (STEC) Strains From a Semi-Hard Raw Milk Cheese
title_short Genomic Investigation of Virulence Potential in Shiga Toxin Escherichia coli (STEC) Strains From a Semi-Hard Raw Milk Cheese
title_sort genomic investigation of virulence potential in shiga toxin escherichia coli (stec) strains from a semi-hard raw milk cheese
topic Microbiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7882498/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33597935
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.629189
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