Major
Bioinformatics & Computational Biology
Anticipated Graduation Year
2021
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common infection in women. While UTIs are most frequently caused by E. coli, it can also reside within the urinary tract as a commensal member of the urinary microbiota. Prior genomic analysis of E. coli strains associated with UTIs and commensal strains have been conducted, looking at virulence factors and antibiotic resistance distinguishing the two. UTIs are commonly treated with an antibiotic. While E. coli strains can encode for antibiotic-resistance genes naturally, they can also acquire resistance because of prior antibiotic treatment. Dueto the community-acquired antibiotic resistance, there are less and less treatment options for UTIs. Recently we isolated and sequenced the genomes of 66 E. coli isolates from the bladder microbiota of women with UTIs, with urinary urgency incontinence, overactive bladder, and without LUTs. The efficacy of five commonly prescribed antibiotics on the growth of these strains was tested. Despite the presence of coding regions associated with antibiotic resistance, we found that UTI+ and UTI- strains exhibit similar sensitivities to these drugs. We also found that there is no difference within the UTI+ and UTI- strains in their placement in a phylogenetic tree based on their amino acid sequence.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Catherine Putonti
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli in the female microbiota. Phylogenetic differences within the Escherichia coli.
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common infection in women. While UTIs are most frequently caused by E. coli, it can also reside within the urinary tract as a commensal member of the urinary microbiota. Prior genomic analysis of E. coli strains associated with UTIs and commensal strains have been conducted, looking at virulence factors and antibiotic resistance distinguishing the two. UTIs are commonly treated with an antibiotic. While E. coli strains can encode for antibiotic-resistance genes naturally, they can also acquire resistance because of prior antibiotic treatment. Dueto the community-acquired antibiotic resistance, there are less and less treatment options for UTIs. Recently we isolated and sequenced the genomes of 66 E. coli isolates from the bladder microbiota of women with UTIs, with urinary urgency incontinence, overactive bladder, and without LUTs. The efficacy of five commonly prescribed antibiotics on the growth of these strains was tested. Despite the presence of coding regions associated with antibiotic resistance, we found that UTI+ and UTI- strains exhibit similar sensitivities to these drugs. We also found that there is no difference within the UTI+ and UTI- strains in their placement in a phylogenetic tree based on their amino acid sequence.