Occurrence and characteristics of virulence genes of Escherichia coli strains isolated from healthy dairy cows in Inner Mongolia, China

Huasai, SimujideChen, AorigeleWang, Chun-jieLi, YuTongrige, Bai

Virulence genes of Escherichia coli (E. coli) isolates from healthy dairy cows were identified and characterized by a multiplex PCR assay and serogrouping test. The results showed that among the target genes, eaeA was most frequently detected, accounting for 22.11% (67/303) in all strains from 101 cows. For categorization of E. coli, aEPEC was the category with widest distribution detected in 55 (18.15%) strains from 22 cattle. All of 84 PCR-positive strains belonged to 14 O serogroups, and O149 (25.00%) was most common identified, followed by O2 (17.86%), O8 (11.90%) and O103 (9.52%) with relatively high prevalence.

1. E. coli
2. Multiplex PCR
3. Healthy dairy cow
4. Virulence gene
5. Serogroup