Investigation of fimH Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (C640T and T591A) in Uropathogenic E. coli Isolated from Patients with Urinary Tract Infections

Abstract

Background: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most frequent health problems and uropathogenic Escherichia coli is the major pathogen resulting in UTIs. Sever forms of UTIs are caused by expression of a large range of virulence factors. In this study, we evaluated the allelic frequency fimH gene, in uropathogenic strains of Escherichia coli (UPECs) isolated from patients with UTIs. This study also aimed at determining the roles of C640T and T591A SNPs of the fimH gene in the ability of UPEC to cause UTIs. Materials and Methods: A total of 140 UPEC strains isolated from patients with UTIs were screened by PCR-RFLP to determine the prevalence of the fimH gene C640T and T591A SNPs in UPEC strains isolated from patients attending educational hospitals in Shahrekord. The genotyping of C640T and T591A SNPs was performed using Bme1390I and BseNI restriction enzymes, respectively through PCR-RFLP method. Results: There were no significant association between C640T and T591A SNPs of fimH gene and the ability of UPEC fimH variants to cause UTIs in the studied E.coli isolates. Conclusion: FimH is one of the major virulence factors among UPECs which is confirmed in most E.coli isolates. Further studies are required to determine the association between different fimH gene SNPs of isolated UPECs from patients with UTIs and the ability of UPEC fimH variants to cause UTIs.