R plasmid in Escherichia coli O103 coding for colonization of the rabbit intestinal tract

One rabbit pathogenic Escherichia coli strain, belonging to serogroup O103, harbors a self-transferable 117-kb plasmid (pREC-1) encoding resistance to several antibiotics. The role of this R plasmid in the colonization of the digestive tract in specific-pathogen-free (E. coli O103-free) rabbits was studied. Five-week-old rabbits were inoculated with the wild-type strain, with its variant cured of the plasmid, with an E. coli K-12 strain, or with an untypeable E. coli strain from a healthy rabbit. No symptoms and no mortality were observed in animals inoculated with strains without the plasmid pREC-1, but 87.5% of the rabbits infected by the wild strain died, generally with bloody diarrhea, between days 5 and 15 postinfection. The weight gain of animals was strongly reduced. Transfer of the plasmid to the cured strain or to nonvirulent strains led these strains to induce the same pathology but with a lower mortality. Colonization of the gut by the O103 strain and symptoms of bloody diarrhea are thus related to the presence of the pREC-1 plasmid. The GV strain, which does not produce classical heat-labile enterotoxin or heat-stable enterotoxin and is not invasive, could be considered an enteropathogenic E. coli-like strain. The presence of a conjugative plasmid such as pREC-1 encoding both antibiotic resistance and virulence determinants in O103 E. coli from rabbits could represent a prominent epidemiological hazard under selective pressure by antibiotic therapy.