KguS/KguR two-component system as a molecular marker for E. coli strains associated with chronic urinary tract infections (cUTI)

IF 1.9 4区生物学 Q4 BIOCHEMICAL RESEARCH METHODS

Journal of microbiological methods Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-06 DOI:10.1016/j.mimet.2026.107421

Ricardo E. Ahumada-Cota , Ulises Hernández-Chiñas , Brenda Recillas-Farfán , Armando Navarro-Ocaña , José Molina-López , María G. Balbuena-Alonso , María E. Chávez-Berrocal , Carlos A. Eslava-Campos

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The identification of key genes responsible for the colonization and infection of E. coli strains associated with diarrhea (DEC) has made significant progress. Unfortunately, for uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) strains, there are currently no defined genes that contribute to the identification of strains associated with urinary tract infections. This paper presents data regarding genes associated with the virulence and adaptability of UPEC strains isolated from urinary tract infections (UTI), aiming to evaluate the possibility of identifying a molecular marker for this pathotype. We analyzed 166 E. coli strains (90 recovered from urine and 76 isolated from feces) characterized by serotyping, phylogenetic analysis, and PCR detection of fimH, iutA, fyuA, feoB, ompT, kguS and kguR, genes associated with the virulence and metabolism of UPEC. Herein, results showed a higher prevalence of kguS/kguR combination in strains isolated from persistent UTI (peUTI), which correlated with strains of classic UPEC serogroups, a higher virulence gene load, and inclusion in pathogenic phylogroups (B2 and D). The presence of the genes in strains isolated from feces showed that the kguS/kguR presence was minimal (14%), while the presence of kguR was almost inexistent (1%), contrary to kguS (39%). The results obtained suggest that the presence of the kguS/kguR pair encoding the homonymous two-component system (TCS) plays an important role in the adaptation and colonization of the urinary tract by E. coli strains that cause UTI. In conclusion, the combination of kguS/kguR could be used as a molecular marker to identify pathogenic strains with a high capacity for adaptation to the urinary environment.

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KguS/KguR双组分体系作为慢性尿路感染相关大肠杆菌菌株的分子标记

与腹泻相关的大肠杆菌菌株定植和感染的关键基因的鉴定取得了重大进展。不幸的是，对于尿路致病性大肠杆菌（UPEC）菌株，目前还没有明确的基因来鉴定与尿路感染相关的菌株。本文介绍了从尿路感染（UTI）分离的UPEC菌株的毒力和适应性相关基因的数据，旨在评估鉴定这种病理类型的分子标记的可能性。我们对166株大肠杆菌（90株从尿液中回收，76株从粪便中分离）进行了血清分型、系统发育分析，并对与UPEC毒力和代谢相关的基因fimH、iutA、fyuA、feoB、ompT、kguS和kguR进行了PCR检测。结果显示，持续性UTI （peUTI）分离菌株中kguS/kguR结合的发生率较高，这与典型UPEC血清群菌株、较高的毒力基因负荷以及包含在致病系统群（B2和D）中有关。从粪便中分离的菌株中，kguS/kguR的存在率最低（14%），而kguR几乎不存在（1%），与kguS（39%）相反。结果表明，编码同源双组分系统（TCS）的kguS/kguR对的存在在引起UTI的大肠杆菌菌株在尿路的适应和定植中起重要作用。综上所述，kguS/kguR组合可作为鉴别对泌尿系统环境适应能力强的病原菌的分子标记。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of microbiological methods 生物-生化研究方法

CiteScore

4.30

自引率

4.50%

发文量

151

审稿时长

29 days

期刊介绍： The Journal of Microbiological Methods publishes scholarly and original articles, notes and review articles. These articles must include novel and/or state-of-the-art methods, or significant improvements to existing methods. Novel and innovative applications of current methods that are validated and useful will also be published. JMM strives for scholarship, innovation and excellence. This demands scientific rigour, the best available methods and technologies, correctly replicated experiments/tests, the inclusion of proper controls, calibrations, and the correct statistical analysis. The presentation of the data must support the interpretation of the method/approach. All aspects of microbiology are covered, except virology. These include agricultural microbiology, applied and environmental microbiology, bioassays, bioinformatics, biotechnology, biochemical microbiology, clinical microbiology, diagnostics, food monitoring and quality control microbiology, microbial genetics and genomics, geomicrobiology, microbiome methods regardless of habitat, high through-put sequencing methods and analysis, microbial pathogenesis and host responses, metabolomics, metagenomics, metaproteomics, microbial ecology and diversity, microbial physiology, microbial ultra-structure, microscopic and imaging methods, molecular microbiology, mycology, novel mathematical microbiology and modelling, parasitology, plant-microbe interactions, protein markers/profiles, proteomics, pyrosequencing, public health microbiology, radioisotopes applied to microbiology, robotics applied to microbiological methods,rumen microbiology, microbiological methods for space missions and extreme environments, sampling methods and samplers, soil and sediment microbiology, transcriptomics, veterinary microbiology, sero-diagnostics and typing/identification.