Interestingly, one polymorphism (position 939) was found to be present in all the strains. One genotype was represented by 93%

(65+/70) of the strains, and the other three genotypes were represented by only one or two strains. Two polymorphisms were found to be non-synonymous and gave three FK228 in vivo different genotypes in the AA sequences: for the first polymorphism, serine was coded in place of alanine in AA position 45; for the second polymorphism, three AA (TKE) were inserted into AA position 191. These two polymorphisms were situated in the N-terminal part of the gene. Nevertheless, when we compared polymorphisms regarding the host and the pathotype (EPEC or EHEC), none was found to be specific to the bovine or the human isolates (p < 0.05) or to EPEC or EHEC pathotype. Table 2 tir β gene polymorphism (aa: amino acid, A: alanine, S: serine, T: threonine, K: lysine, E: glutamic acid)   Number of strains Polymorphism

1 Polymorphism 2 Polymorphism 3 Polymorphism 4 Polymorphism 5         (S) 1080 G => T (S) 1302 C => T (NS) 133 T => G (NS) insertion1 571 GATACAAAG (S) 939 G => A   Human Bovine       45 aa: S => A 191 aa: TKE     0 2 Genotype 1 + – - – +   2 0 Genotype 2 – + – + +   1 0 Genotype 3 selleck products – - + – +   25 40 Genotype Amylase 4 – - – - + Total 28 42             Polymorphisms in the tccP2 gene For the tccP2 gene, seven genotypes (Table 3) were detected in the collection. All had been previously described

[23, 24]. The tccP2 variant described in reference strain 11368 (accession number AB253564) was found to be present in 34% (24+/70) of the strains. The tccP2 variant described in reference strain EC38/99 (accession number AB275131) was present in 17% (12+/70) of the strains. tccP2 variants described in reference strains 12009 and CB00225 (accession number AB253581 and AB275122 respectively) were both present in 6% (4+/70) of the strains. Three tccP2 variants described in reference strains ED411, ED71 and 5905 (accession number AB253567, AB253576 and AB356001 respectively) were represented by only one strain each. None of the variants was found to be specific to the bovine or the human isolates (p < 0.05). Nevertheless, the two major variants were statistically associated with the pathotype (p < 0.01): the tccP2 gene AB275131 was statistically associated with the EPEC strains in comparison with the EHEC strains and the tccP2 gene AB253564 was statistically associated with the EHEC strains in comparison with the EPEC strains.