AUTHOR=Valat Charlotte , Drapeau Antoine , Beurlet Stéphanie , Bachy Véronique , Boulouis Henri-Jean , Pin Raphaëlle , Cazeau Géraldine , Madec Jean-Yves , Haenni Marisa 

TITLE=Pathogenic Escherichia coli in Dogs Reveals the Predominance of ST372 and the Human-Associated ST73 Extra-Intestinal Lineages

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00580

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2020.00580

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Escherichia coli</italic> is a ubiquitous commensal and pathogen that has also been recognized as a multi-sectoral indicator of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Given that latter focus, such as on resistances to extended-spectrum cephalosporins (ESC) and carbapenems, the reported population structure of <italic>E. coli</italic> is generally biased toward resistant isolates, with sequence type (ST)131 being widely reported in humans, and ST410 and ST648 being reported in animals. In this study, we characterized 618 non-duplicate <italic>E. coli</italic> isolates collected throughout France independently of their resistance phenotype. The B2 phylogroup was over-represented (79.6%) and positively associated with the presence of numerous virulence factors (VFs), including those defining the extra-intestinal pathogenic <italic>E. coli</italic> isolates (presence of ≥2 VFs: <italic>papA</italic>, <italic>sfaS, focG</italic>, <italic>afaD</italic>, <italic>iutA</italic>, and <italic>kpsMTII</italic>) and those more specifically related to uropathogenic <italic>E. coli</italic> (<italic>cnf1</italic>, <italic>hlyD</italic>). The major STs associated with clinical isolates from dogs were by far the dog-associated ST372 (20.7%) and ST73 (20.1%), a lineage that had commonly been considered until now as human-associated. Resistance to ESC was found in 33 isolates (5.3%), along with one carbapenemase-producing isolate, and was mostly restricted to non-B2 isolates. In conclusion, the presence of virulent <italic>E. coli</italic> lineages may be the issue, rather than the presence of ESC-resistant isolates, and the risk of transmission of such virulent isolates to humans needs to be further studied.</p>