1887

Abstract

Summary

The prevalence and genotype of Shiga-like toxins (SLTs) in O157 strains from patients in Germany with haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) were investigated. This was done by PCR amplification of the B-subunit genes with two primer pairs—one complementary to , and the other homologous to both and sequences. To distinguish between and , the amplified DNA was digested with restriction endonucleases III and I. Of the 38 strains examined, 17 harboured sequences for ; four contained only , three carried both and , and 10 strains had and A further three genotypes () were found in the remaining 21 strains resulting in a total of six genotypes. To determine whether the genes were expressed, and whether genotypes correlated with phenotypes, all strains were subjected to cytotoxicity assays and colony ELISA. All 38 strains displayed cytotoxic activity to Vero cells in similar quantities. The SLT-I-specific monoclonal antibody (MAb)13C4 reacted with all 10 strains in which sequences were identified. Colony blot ELISA with the SLT-II specific MAb11E10 detected 27 of 28 strains with sequences, but did not react with any of the seven strains that carried , or and . The high SLT variability shown here has diagnostic implications and may well have consequences for the host response in infections associated with these pathogens.

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1994-05-01
2024-12-06
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