TY - JOUR AU - Badagliacca, Pietro AU - Agnoletti, Fabrizio AU - Drigo, Ilenia AU - Merildi, Valentina AU - Lopes, Federica AU - Pompilii, Cinzia AU - Mangone, Iolanda AU - Scacchia, Massimo AU - Tonelli, Alfreda AU - Masson, Luke PY - 2019/01/04 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Virulence gene profiles of rabbit enteropathogenic Escherichia coli strains isolated in Northern Italy JF - Veterinaria Italiana JA - VetIt VL - 54 IS - 3 SE - Paper DO - 10.12834/VetIt.859.4260.2 UR - https://veterinariaitaliana.izs.it/index.php/VetIt/article/view/859 SP - 189-196 AB - <span class="vet_it_testoblu_interlinea">The virulence gene profile of 26 rabbit enteropathogenic <em>Escherichia coli</em> strains, isolated from 17 colibacillosis outbreaks located in two regions of Northern Italy, was determined using an <em>Echerichia coli</em> virulence DNA microarray. All strains were classified according to their determined biotype, sero- and phylo-group. The distribution of virulence genes encoding for the Locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE), LEE type III secretion system (T3SS), non-LEE T3SS translocated proteins and adherence factors was also determined. All strains but one belonged to phylogroups A and B1. A prevalent association between the O103 serogroup with the rhamnose-negative phenotype (biotype 12 or 14) was found. The most prevalent LEE profile found in tested strains was <em>ler/cesT/espA-1/espB-3/tir-1/eae(beta)/espD-2/escN/eprJ</em>. All strains possessed either the adhesive factor rabbit-2 (<em>afr/2</em>) or the plasmid Rabbit adherence locus (<em>ral</em>) gene and 24 of them an additional individual or combined set of colonization factors<em> efa1/lifA, lpfA</em> and <em>paa</em> genes. Finally, the combined or single presence of a set of LEE and/or non-LEE effector proteins encoding genes, namely <em>espG, cif, map </em>and <em>nle</em> family genes, attested to the genetic potential of investigated strains to induce pathologic lesions to the host. The application of microarray-based technologies in assessing the genetic profile of rabbit <em>E. coli</em> is a reliable, cost-effective candidate for large scale investigations in monitoring programs aimed to survey the circulation of pathogenic strains within rabbit production units, their zoonotic genetic potential and to select <em>E. coli</em> strains eligible for vaccinal prophylaxis in fattening rabbit production.</span> ER -