Escherichia coli is associated with kidney stone disease, as a cause or an effect (secondary or recurrent urinary tract infection, UTI). Defining phenotypic or functional differences between E. coli inside stone nidus (ECS, associated with infection-induced stone) and outside the stone (i. e. from urine) (ECU, represented secondary infection) would be helpful to better understand bacterial involvement in this disease.
ECS and ECU were isolated from 100 stone formers and subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility test, ERIC-PCR genotyping, determination of biofilm formation, bacterial colony size on agar plate and cell length in broth, 2-DE, nanoLC-MS/MS, protein network analysis, and pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) activity assay.
From 100 stone formers, 36 had positive bacterial culture, of which 5 pairs had identical antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and comparable ERIC-PCR genotypes. ECS had smaller colony size and longer cell length than ECU. 2-DE proteomic analysis revealed significantly differential levels of proteins involved in carbohydrate metabolism, stress response, and RNA/protein metabolism. Functional validation demonstrated lower PDH activity in ECS.
All these differential phenotypic and cellular proteome findings might be adaptive response of E. coli from remote infection to survive within the stone matrix that subsequently caused recurrent UTI in kidney stone patients.
Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry. 2016 Dec 21 [Epub]
Ratree Tavichakorntrakool, Patcharee Boonsiri, Vitoon Prasongwatana, Aroonlug Lulitanond, Chaisiri Wongkham, Visith Thongboonkerd
Centre for Research and Development of Medical Diagnostic Laboratories, Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand; Department of Clinical Microbiology, Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand. Electronic address: ., Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand., Centre for Research and Development of Medical Diagnostic Laboratories, Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand; Department of Clinical Microbiology, Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand., Medical Proteomics Unit, Office for Research and Development, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand; Center for Research in Complex Systems Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. Electronic address: .