Molecular Detection of Adhesion Genes of Proteus mirabilis Isolated From UTI Iraqi Patients with kidney stones

Background/Aims: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a prevalent disease of significant public health importance, affecting over 150 million individuals annually. This research aims to discover adhesion genes ZapA gene (protease) and mrpA gene (fimbriae) of P. mirabilis isolated from patients with urinary tract infection and kidney stones, and whether the presence of such virulence factors contributes to increasing its ability to evade the host's immune defences.Materials and Methods: Two hundred and ten samples were collected from Al-Diwaniyah Teaching Hospital in Al-Diwaniyah Governorate - Iraq, during the period from July 2023 to December 2023. The bacterial isolates that were obtained from urine samples taken from patients with UTI and kidney stones were cultured purified and then diagnosed using the Vitek-2 system. Compact - Biomerieux-France. Then, the adhesion genes were investigated using PCR technology, where the ZapA gene and mrpA gene were detected.Results: The results of the study showed that P. mirabilis was the dominant microorganism that caused urinary tract accounting for 30% of the cases, followed by Escherichia coli (24%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (20%), Staphylococcus (16%) %), and finally mixed infections represented (10%) of cases. Gene screening results showed that mrpA and ZapA genes of P. mirabilis were positive in all the relevant samples.Conclusions: The current study concluded that P. mirabilis is the most common bacterial species that causes urinary tract infections with kidney stones. Adhesion-related genes and immune evasion genes were positive in all samples.