Asian Science
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Abstract: Escherichia coli are mostly free living bacteria that
harbour the gastrointestinal tract of poultry. Howbeit, pathogenic Escherichia
coli are very important foodborne pathogens that can cause severe complications,
illnesses and deaths in humans. The objective of this study was to determine
the genetic diversity or relatedness of 62 Escherichia coli strains isolated
from ducks and the environment using Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus
(ERIC). The analysis of the Escherichia coli strains by ERIC produced
DNA bands of different sizes for differentiation purposes and cluster analysis
at a coefficient of 0.85 grouped the strains into different clusters and singletons.
At this coefficient the Escherichia coli strains were grouped into thirteen
clusters and eleven singletons with discriminatory index (D value) of 0.946.
The ERIC PCR adapted in this study showed to be a useful genotyping tool for
determining the genetic relatedness of the duck Escherichia coli strains.
Comparison of the genetic relatedness among foodborne pathogens is important
for foodborne diseases outbreak investigations.