Published in Scientific Works. Series C. Veterinary Medicine, Vol. LXVI, Issue 2
Written by Maria Rodica GURĂU, Hasan Majid HAMEED, Dragoș COBZARIU, Doina DANEȘ
Avian colibacillosis produced by Escherichia coli, a common infection facing poultry flocks, affects poultry industry by the broad spectrum of induced entities: systemic acute infection - colisepticemia, localised infection as omphalitis, cellulitis, enteritis, salpingitis/peritonitis, cronic disease - choligranulomatosis, the chronic respiratory disease and many more. The E. coli infection is causing large losses for the poultry industry, impairing the performances: decreased egg production, with drown of the carcasses at slaughterhouse and the increased mortality rate, are recorded in the affected flocks. E. coli strains inducing poultry diseases are a specific group of strains, called Avian Pathogen E. coli (APEC) strains: these strains randomly share more virulence-associated genes. 13 E. coli isolates from different Romanian poultry outbreaks/flocks have been investigated for the presence of Iuc D and Pap C genes. The Pap C gene is responsible for adhesin assembly and its frequency is associated with the cystitis strain like Santo E. proves in his article from 2006. Gene Iuc D of the plasmid encodes a membrane-bound enzyme synthesizing N6- hydroxylysine, the first product of the aerobactin biosynthesis pathway. The DNA extraction was made using QIAamp cador Pathogen Mini Kit (Qiagen). The amplification protocol was: a cycle of denaturation at 94°C for 30 s followed by 25 cycles of 94°C for 30 s, 58°C for 30 s and 68°C for 3 min, and a cycle of 72°C for 10 min. The Iuc D gene was present in 100% (13/13) isolates. Pap C gene was present in 23.07% (3/13) isolates. Considering these preliminary results, it can say that Iuc D and Pap C genes are independently expressing their virulence and further research should be performed to establish the pathogenicity of each of the two genes together with other pathogenic genes.
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