Background: Extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) can colonize the urinary system with various virulence factors. Escaping from the host defense, can lead to serious infections, such as bacteremia and sepsis. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the presence of phylogenetic groups, various virulence factor genes, and Pathogenicity island (PAI) markers of extraintestinal and commensal E. coli isolates. Methods: Within January 2016 and December 2017, 50 E. coli isolates were isolated from simultaneous blood and urine samples of 25 patients hospitalized in Mersin University Faculty of Medicine, Turkey, and 50 commensal E. coli isolates were isolated from fecal 18 samples of healthy volunteers as the control group was included in the study. Phylogenetic groups, virulence factors genes, and PAI markers were determined by the multiplex polymerase chain reaction method. Results: The majority of ExPEC isolates were observed to be in phylogenetic group B2. All of the commensal E. coli isolates were detected in phylogenetic group A. The most predominant virulence factor gene was traT (80%). The most prevalent PAI marker was PAI IV536 (86%). However, the PAI I536, IJ96, and IIJ96 markers were not detected in any isolates. Only PAI IV536 was detected in commensal E. coli isolates. Conclusions: It was determined that E. coli isolates that cause uropathogenic and bloodstream infections contain a higher frequency of PAI than commensal isolates.

Aim: This case– control study investigated the various PAI markers, phylogenetic groups and antimicrobial susceptibility among DEC and commensal E. coli isolates. Background: Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) is an emerging agent among pathogens that cause diarrheal diseases and represents a major public health problem in developing countries. The major difference in virulence among DEC pathotype and commensals may be related to the presence of specific genomic segments, termed Pathogenicity islands (PAIs). Patients and methods: A total of 600 stool specimens from children (450 with and 150 without diarrhea) were collected and various PAI markers, phylogenetic groups and antimicrobial resistance profile among DEC and commensal E. coli isolates were detected. Results: One hundred sixty eight (90. 3%) isolates were resistant to one or more antimicrobial agents. PAI markers were detected in a substantial percentage of commensal (90%) and DEC isolates (99. 3%) (P> 0. 05). The most prevalent PAI marker among DEC and commensal isolates was HPI (91. 9% DEC vs. 68% commensal). We found a high number of PAI markers such as SHI-2, She and LEE that were significantly associated with DEC. Several different combinations of PAIs were found among DEC isolates. Comparison of PAIs among DEC and commensal isolates showed that many DEC isolates (94. 8%) carried two or more PAI markers, while 76% of commensals had only one PAI marker (P< 0. 05). According to the phylogenetic classification, group B2 was the most commonly found in the DEC isolates. Furthermore, our results showed that group B2 can be present in commensal isolates (18%). Conclusion: These results indicate that PAI markers are widespread among commensal and DEC isolates and these commensal isolates may be reservoirs for transmission of these markers.

Background and Aims: Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) are a causative agent in most of the urinary tract infections (UTIs) contain pathogenic island (PAI) which expresses a multitude of virulence factors. There is not much information about the type and distribution of these islands in the phylogenic groups of E. coli causing UTIs in different regions of Iran. In this study, the distribution of the Pathogenicity island (PAI) markers infections was investigated among phylogenic groups of E. coli isolates collected from patients with UTIs using Multiplex-PCR method. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, 100 isolates of E. coli collected from previous studies were conducted to determine the frequency of pathogenic islands and their distribution among phylogenic groups. In this method, genomic DNA of isolates was extracted by boiling method. Determination of the frequency of pathogenic islands was performed using Multiplex-PCR method. The results were analyzed using Fisher’ s exact test. Results: The prevalence of PAI IV536, PAI ICFT073, PAI IICFT073, PAI II536 and PAI IIJ96 was 84%, 44%, 30%, 16% and 9%, respectively. The PAI I536 and PAI IJ96 pathogens were not observed in any of the isolates. The highest distribution of PAI IV536 island between phylogenetic groups B2 and D was 88% (46 out of 52) and 100% (19 out of 19), respectively. Conclusions: In this study, isolates belonging to groups B2 and D were found to be the most pathogenic islands; therefore, they could play a more effective role in urinary tract infection than other phylogenic groups.