Identification of Virulence Markers and Phylogenetic Groups' Association, and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Isolates.

BACKGROUND: Urinary tract infections represent a world public health problem, which is caused mainly by Uropathogenic Escherichia coli. Although they are originally found in the intestinal microbiota in the majority of the cases, urinary tract infections can also be caused by intra-intestinal pathogenic E. coli. OBJECTIVE: The main objective of our research is to identify the virulence factors generally associated with different pathotypes across phylogenetic groups. METHODS: E. coli were isolated from patients with urinary tract infections. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests, virulence genes and phylogroups were prospected. The data analysis were performed using the chi-square and Fisher exact test. RESULTS: In total, 72.2% of isolates showed multidrug resistant. We have also depicted an important association between E. coli from inpatients with UTIs and pap and hlyA genes (p-0.041 and p-0.019 respectively). The predominant phylogenetic group in our isolates is B2 (45.4%) followed by D (12.4%). Our results showed that 9.3% of isolates have an unknown phylogroup which shows a significant association with astA gene (p-0.008). We have as well found a significant association between B2 and three virulence genes namely pap, hlyA and invE (p-0.002, p-0.001, p-0.025 respectively); B1 and pap, hlyA genes (p-0.049 and p-0.021 respectively); E and afa gene (p-0.024). CONCLUSION: Certain virulence factors have been shown to be potential targets for drug design and therapeutic pathways in order to deal with the antimicrobial resistance problem enhanced by antibiotic therapy.

Association of the CAG repeat polymorphism in mitochondrial polymerase gamma (POLG1) with male infertility: a case-control study in an Algerian population.

Polymorphisms in the have been speculated to be associated with male infertility. The main objective of our study was to CAG repeat polymorphism in POLG1 gene and male mitochondrial DNA polymerase gamma (POLG) assess the possible association of infertility in Algerian population. Genomic DNA from 89 infertile men and 84 controls was extracted using salting-out method. CAG repeat polymorphism was analyzed by the automated direct sequencing protocol. Statistical analysis was performed by Epi-info(r) (v6.0) software. A significant association with male infertility was found for CAG repeat polymorphism in heterozygous genotypes (10/≠10 vs 10/10: OR = 2.00 [0.99 - 4.05], p=0.03; "infertile vs control groups"; 10/≠10 vs 10/10: OR = 3.75[1.20-11.96], p=0.01 "oligoasthenoteratospermic group"). ALso, the results showed a significant association between the mordib allele (≠10) and male infertility (2.07 [01.07 - 04.02], p=0.01). Our results showed that POLG1 CAG repeat polymorphism might be a risk factor for male infertility in Algerian population. Investigations with larger sample sizes and representative population-based cases and matched controls are needed to validate our results.

SRY and NR5A1 gene mutation in Algerian children and adolescents with DSD and testicular dysgenesis.

BACKGROUND: In humans, sex determination and differentiation is genetically controlled. Disorders of sex development (DSD) result in anomalies of the development of the external and internal genitalia. Variants in transcription factors such as SRY, NR5A1 and SOX9, can cause changes in gonadal development often associated with ambiguity of the external genitalia. OBJECTIVES: This study has been conducted to determine the frequency, types and associated genetic alterations in patients with DSD in the Algerian population. METHODS: Thirty patients were included. Based on their clinical presentation, thirteen patients presented with ambiguous external genitalia, thirteen patients presented with hypospadias and four patients presented with bilateral undescended testes. Karyotype analysis was performed on peripheral blood lymphocytes using standard R-banding. DNA was isolated from blood leukocytes for PCR reaction and mutational analysis of SRY and NR5A1 was done by direct sequencing. RESULTS: Most patients with ambiguous genitalia had a 46,XY karyotype. One patient had a deletion of SRY, otherwise no point mutations in SRY or NR5A1 genes were identified. However, a single NR5A1 polymorphism (p.Gly146Ala) in patient with 46,XX DSD has been detected. CONCLUSIONS: The absence of mutations in these genes suggests that there are others genes playing an important role in sex development and differentiation.

First study of microdeletions in the Y chromosome of Algerian infertile men with idiopathic oligo- or azoospermia.

The human Y chromosome is essential for human sex determination and spermatogenesis. The long arm contains the azoospermia factor (AZF) region. Microdeletions in this region are responsible for male infertility. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of Y microdeletions in Algerian infertile males with azoospermia and oligoasthenoteratozoospermia syndrome (OATS) and to compare the prevalence of these abnormalities with other countries and regions worldwide. A sample of 80 Algerian infertile males with a low sperm count (1-20 × 10(6) sperms/ml) as well as 20 fertile male controls was screened for Y chromosome microdeletions. 49 men were azoospermic and 31 men had OATS. Genomic DNA was isolated from blood and polymerase chain reaction was carried out with a set of 6 AZFa, AZFb and AZFc STS markers to detect the microdeletions as recommended by the European Academy of Andrology. Among the 80 infertile men screened for microdeletion, 1 subject was found to have microdeletions in the AZFc (sY254 and sY255) region. The deletion was found in azoospermic subjects (1/49, 2%). The overall AZF deletion frequency was low (1/80, 1.3%). AZF microdeletions were observed neither in the OATS group nor in the control group. The frequency of AZF microdeletions in infertile men from Algeria was comparable to those reported in the literature. We suggest analyzing 6 STS in the first step to detect Y microdeletions in our population.

Influence of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase C677T gene polymorphisms in Algerian infertile men with azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia.

AIMS: The C677T allele of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene has been suggested to represent a risk factor for male infertility. To confirm this association, the distribution of the single-nucleotide polymorphism C677T was investigated in idiopathic infertile Algerian patients with nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA) or severe oligoasthenoteratozoospermia (OAT). A case-control study was carried out, including 74 idiopathic infertile Algerian patients with NOA (n=46) or severe OAT (n=28) and 84 fertile men as controls. Polymorphism C677T was studied by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism, and the results were statistically analyzed. RESULTS: The frequency of genotypes MTHFR 677CC, 677CT, and 677TT in idiopathic infertile men with NOA was 43.48%, 41.30%, and 15.22%; 39.29%, 50%, and 10.71% regarding the severe oligozoospermic men; and 42.86%, 45.24%, and 11.90% in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that the C677T MTHFR polymorphism is not a risk factor for idiopathic male subfertility in an Algerian population.