Abstract:
Background: Escherichia coli is a major pathogen that possesses several virulence characteristics. The pks Island of E. coli which code the genotoxin called colibactin.
Objectives: The study aimed to investigate the distribution of Pks island genes in Escherichia coli isolated from both human and bovine sources in Basrah governorate.
Methods: E.coli isolates are identified according to their morphological features on medium MacConkey agar, EMB agar, and chrome agar. E.coli was confirmed by the uidA as a species-specific gene by conventional PCR.
Results: The analysis revealed a 52.5% overall isolation rate. Specifically, the isolation rates were 50% (50/100) of human diarrhea, 50% (25/50) of animal diarrhea, and 50% (25/50) of bovine mastitis. The uidA gene PCR results of 60 isolates revealed that a 100% were E coli, which showed the band size of 162bp for the gene. This study was carried out to detect clbA, clbB, and clbQ genes in all 60 E.coli isolates using Specific primers for these genes. The outcomes demonstrated that two (10%) of the human diarrhea isolates tested positive for the clbA gene, while only one (5%) of the same samples tested positive for the clbB and clbQ genes. In contrast, one (5%) of the animal diarrhea samples tested positive for the clbA gene and negative for the clbB and clbQ genes.
Conclusions: The study concludes that colibactin-producing E.coli