Urinary Tract Infection Escherichia coli Is Related to the Environmental Escherichia coli in Their DNA Barcoding and Antibiotic Resistance Patterns in Grenada

Abstract

Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are among one of the most common infectionsin women, with uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) being involved in 80% of cases.In addition, E. coli exhibits an increasing resistance to broad spectrum antimicrobial agents aswell as the subsequent generations of these drugs. The genetic diversity and antibioticresistance patterns of both clinical and environmental E. coli isolates were studied to predict the potential of transmissionof organisms and genes for antibiotic resistance from three different major eco-habitats includingthe gut of iguanas’ fresh and marine watersand the human urinary tract. (GTG)5 and BOX-PCR extragenic DNA fingerprintingallowed for the tracking of the relatedness of four different ecotype groups. BothDNA fingerprinting methods targeted non-protein coding or exogenous palindromicDNA and demonstrated shared origin and intraspecies level of genomic diversity withinthe population of the studied bacteria. DNA fingerprinting based on BOX-PCR wasless discriminating than the (GTG)5-PCR, and produced five major clades.BOX-PCR analysis indicated that 44% of the UTI E. coli isolates was comprised within a single clade, therefore it correlatedbetter with ecotype distribution. The (GTG)5 PCR based co-clusteringanalysis showed that the clinical isolates appeared to have a closer relationshipto iguana E. coli isolates than to thefresh and marine water isolates. However, in accordance with the BOX PCR co-clusteringanalysis, the clinical isolates were most similar to the marine water isolates,followed by the freshwater and iguana E. coli isolates. Seventy two percent of antibiotic resistance patterns were shared by theUTI strains with E. coli isolated fromfreshwater, followed by iguana.