Abstract
Background: The uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is an important bacterium that colonizes the bladder mucous membrane as biofilm and causes urinary tract infection (UTI). In addition, UPEC favors long-term persistence and leads to relapses in untreatable UTI. Further, bacterial hydrophobic interactions play a role in bacterial adherence to the surface and facilitate biofilm formation due to adhesion. Similarly, cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH), fimbriae, curli fiber, and colanic capsule allow UPEC isolates to initiate infections. Considering the above-mentioned explanation, this study evaluated the association between genes encoding curli fimbriae, colanic acid (CA) capsule, and f1c fimbriae with biofilm formation and CSH among UPEC isolates. Methods: To this end, 100 Escherichia coli strains were isolated from the urine samples of the patients and were diagnosed by biochemical tests. Furthermore, a tissue culture plate method was used to determine the capacity of biofilm formation, followed by conducting microbial adhesion to hydrocarbons method for CSH determination. Finally, the presence of csgA, csgD, rcsA, rcsC, and foc genes was determined by applying polymerase chain reaction. Results: Totally, 40, 22, and 28 isolates had strong, moderate, and weak biofilm formation capacity, respectively. Moreover, 42 and 38 isolates had strong and moderate CSH. Similarly, among the isolates with strong CSH, 32, 13, and 5 isolates had strong, moderate and weak biofilm formation capacity and the prevalence of csgA, csgD, rcsA, and foc genes was 33, 35, 35, 16, and 29, respectively. Based on the findings, no significant difference was observed between the frequency of csgA, csgD, rcsA, rcsC, and foc genes among the strong, moderate, and weak biofilm producers. Conclusions: In general, there is an association between CSH and the biofilm formation of UPEC isolates. This result showed the role of CSH as an effective factor on bacterial adhesion for the first stage of biofilm formation. However, differentiating the strains is not confirmed regarding their ability to form biofilms and their CSH and the presence of all studied genes.
Highlights
The uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is an important bacterium that colonizes the bladder mucous membrane as biofilm and causes urinary tract infection (UTI)
Strong positive correlations were observed between cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH) and biofilm formation or cell adhesion in C. albicans. These results suggest that hydrophobic force of bacteria may play a minor role in adhesion and biofilm formation, but CSH of C. albicans may be an important factor for adherence on surface and biofilm-forming process [40]
Biofilm production may be the key determinant for the persistence of UPEC in the vaginal reservoir, the bladder epithelial cells, or both so that it must be taken into account for the treatment of UTI associated by the biofilm producer of UPEC isolates
Summary
The uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is an important bacterium that colonizes the bladder mucous membrane as biofilm and causes urinary tract infection (UTI). Among the isolates with strong CSH, 32, 13, and 5 isolates had strong, moderate and weak biofilm formation capacity and the prevalence of csgA, csgD, rcsA, and foc genes was 33, 35, 35, 16, and 29, respectively. UPEC bacteria tend to colonize the bladder mucous membrane as a biofilm and causes UTI It favors the long-term persistence in host tissue [3], is impermeable to many antibiotics, and leads to the occurrence of bacterial multidrug-resistance which is responsible for relapses in untreatable UTI, recurrent UTIs, chronic cystitis, and prostitutes [4]. Medical implants such as catheters, mechanical heart valves, or pacemakers are constructed from hydrophobic materials (e.g., silicon, stainless steel, and Teflon) that hydrophobic
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
