traT Gene Sequences, Serum Resistance and Pathogenicity-related Factors in Clinical Isolates of Escherichia coli and Other Gram-negative Bacteria

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Abstract
The R6-5 plasmid-specified outer membrane protein, TraT protein, was previously shown to mediate resistance to bacterial killing by serum. Colony hybridization with a 700 base pairs DNA fragment carrying most of the traT gene was used to examine the prevalence of traT in gram-negative bacteria, particularly strains of E. coli, isolated from clinical specimens, traT was found in isolates of E. coli, Salmonella, Shigella and Klebsiella, but not in Pseudomonas, Aeromonas or Plesiomonas, nor in the few isolates of Enterobacter, Proteus, Acinetobacter, Citrobacter, Serratia or Yersinia that were examined. It was detected in a significantly higher proportion of the E. coli strains isolated from the blood of patients with bacteremia/septicemia or from feces of patients with enteric infections (50-70%) than in that of strains isolated from normal feces (20-40%). The incidence of traT in strains isolated from cases of urinary tract infections was variable. traT was found to be frequently associated with production of the K1 capsule and with the carriage of ColV plasmids, but not with the carriage of R plasmids, nor with serum resistance of the production of hemolysin.

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