Prevalence and pathologic effects of colibactin and cytotoxic necrotizing factor-1 (Cnf 1) in Escherichia coli: experimental and bioinformatics analyses

Abstract

The colibactin and cytotoxic necrotizing factor 1 (Cnf 1) are toxins with cell cycle modulating effects that contribute to tumorgenesis and hyperproliferation. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and pathologic effects of Cnf 1 and colibactin among hemolytic uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC). The bioinformatics approach incorporated in this study aimed to expand the domain of the in vitro study and explore the prevalence of both toxins among other bacterial species. A total of 125 E. coli isolates were recovered from UTIs patients. The isolates were tested for their hemolytic activity, subjected to tissue culture and PCR assays to detect the phenotypic and genotypic features of both toxins. A rat ascending UTI in vivo model was conducted using isolates expressing or non-expressing Cnf 1 and colibactin (ClbA and ClbQ). The bioinformatics analyses were inferred by Maximum likelihood method and the evolutionary relatedness was deduced by MEGA X.