Phenotypic characterization of uropathogenic Escherichia coli in patients of Nineveh province in Iraq

Aims: Having a basic idea about the behavior of the wild-type strains of Escherichia coli, we will characterize pathogenic strains of E. coli taken from urinary tract infections in our project.Methodology and results: MacConkey agar (MAC), Eosin methylene bue agar (EMB) and analytical profile index (API) kit were used for the phenotypic characterization of uropathogenic.The present results showed that 55/300 (18.3%) samples were positive for E. coli during the period of isolation and identification, which was distributed between 13(24%) males and 42(76%) females.All isolates (55 samples) were catalase-positive based on the slide catalase test with 3% H2O2, oxidase-negative for cytochrome c oxidase and Gram-negative rods occurring singly and were confirmed as E. coli on MacConkey and Eosin methylene blue (EMB) agar.As a marker for phenotypic diversity, a total of 4 different code numbers (A: 7 144 172, B: 7 144 552, C: 7144 572 and D: 0 044 552) were recovered from the 55 samples with a different biochemical test based on the results of the API 20E system.Conclusion, significance and impact of study: Phenotypic characterization of E. coli strains from humans in disease were useful in establishing that uropathogenic strains of E. coli were different in behavior.Studying the phenotypes was easier as suitable differences could be visualized, and these differences may be used to identify changes in the genomic variations of the strains.