Low prevalence of STEC autotransporter contributing to biofilm formation (Sab) in verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli isolates of humans and raw meats

Escherichia coli autotransporters (AT) are known to confer adherence to eukaryotic extracellular matrix and may, therefore, be virulence-associated. Recently, the plasmid-borne STEC AT contributing to biofilm formation (Sab) was described in verocytotoxin (VT)-producing E. coli (VTEC) strains that do not carry the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE). Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we investigated the prevalence of sab and other virulence genes, VT1 (vtx1), VT2 (vtx2), intimin (eae), enterohemolysin (ehxA), STEC autoagglutinating adhesin (saa), and subtilase cytotoxin (subA), in VTEC isolates from patients (n = 263) and raw meats of ruminants and wildlife (n = 104) in Belgium from 1990 to 2010. Overall, sab was detected in three (0.82%) of 367 VTEC strains comprising human isolates of serotypes O162:H28 (no clinical data available) and OX183:H18 (patient with abdominal pain), and one ground beef O181:H16 isolate. These three sab-positive isolates were eae-negative, but ehxA-, saa-, and subA-positive. Our data show that sab is uncommon in VTEC isolates. All sab-positive VTEC strains identified to date carried a comparable plasmid-bound virulence profile (ehxA-saa-subA-sab), which may be transmitted to other strains. Sab may mediate intestinal adherence in some LEE-negative VTEC isolates, but more studies on its prevalence and function are needed.