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

Abstract

Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are among one of the most common infections in 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 as well as the subsequent generations of these drugs. The genetic diversity and antibiotic resistance patterns of both clinical and environmental E. coli isolates were studied to predict the potential of transmission of organisms and genes for antibiotic resistance from three different major eco-habitats including the gut of iguanas ’ fresh and marine waters and the human urinary tract. (GTG) 5 and BOX-PCR extragenic DNA fingerprinting allowed for the tracking of the relatedness of four different ecotype groups. Both DNA fingerprinting methods targeted non-protein coding or exogenous palindromic DNA and demonstrated shared origin and intraspecies level of genomic diversity within the population of the studied bacteria. DNA fingerprinting based on BOX-PCR was less 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 correlated better with ecotype distribution. The (GTG) 5 PCR based co-clustering analysis showed that the clinical isolates appeared to have a closer relationship to iguana E. coli isolates than to the fresh and marine water isolates. However, in accordance with the BOX PCR co-clustering analysis, 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 the UTI strains with E. coli isolated from freshwater, followed by iguana.