Shiga-Toxin-Producing Strains of Escherichia coli O104:H4 and a Strain of O157:H7, Which Can Cause Human Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, Differ in Biofilm Formation in the Presence of CO2 and in Their Ability to Grow in a Novel Cell Culture Medium

Kei Amemiya; David A Rozak; Jennifer L Dankmeyer; William R Dorman; Charles Marchand; David P Fetterer; Patricia L Worsham; Brett K Purcell

doi:10.3390/microorganisms11071744

Shiga-Toxin-Producing Strains of Escherichia coli O104:H4 and a Strain of O157:H7, Which Can Cause Human Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, Differ in Biofilm Formation in the Presence of CO₂ and in Their Ability to Grow in a Novel Cell Culture Medium

Microorganisms. 2023 Jul 3;11(7):1744. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms11071744.

Authors

Kei Amemiya¹, David A Rozak², Jennifer L Dankmeyer¹, William R Dorman², Charles Marchand¹, David P Fetterer¹, Patricia L Worsham¹, Brett K Purcell^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Bacteriology Division, United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, MD 21702, USA.
² Diagnostic Systems Division, United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, MD 21702, USA.
³ Department of Medicine, University of Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA.

Abstract

One pathogen that commonly causes gastrointestinal illnesses from the consumption of contaminated food is Escherichia coli O157:H7. In 2011 in Germany, however, there was a prominent outbreak of bloody diarrhea with a high incidence of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) caused by an atypical, more virulent E. coli O104:H4 strain. To facilitate the identification of this lesser-known, atypical E. coli O104:H4 strain, we wanted to identify phenotypic differences between it and a strain of O157:H7 in different media and culture conditions. We found that E. coli O104:H4 strains produced considerably more biofilm than the strain of O157:H7 at 37 °C (p = 0.0470-0.0182) Biofilm production was significantly enhanced by the presence of 5% CO₂ (p = 0.0348-0.0320). In our study on the innate immune response to the E. coli strains, we used HEK293 cells that express Toll-like receptors (TLRs) 2 or 4. We found that E. coli O104:H4 strains had the ability to grow in a novel HEK293 cell culture medium, while the E. coli O157:H7 strain could not. Thus, we uncovered previously unknown phenotypic properties of E. coli O104:H4 to further differentiate this pathogen from E. coli O157:H7.

Keywords: E. coli O104:H4; E. coli O157:H7; biofilm; novel growth medium.

Grants and funding

1.1A0018_07_RD-B/JSTOR