Comparative genomics of Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC). Escherichia coli

Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) are a class of extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli which cause colibacillosis, an important disease of poultry. There is a lack of genetic or serological markers that can clearly distinguish commensal E. coli found in poultry from APEC, and that can distinguish the proposed different pathotypes within APEC. In this study we have used whole genome sequencing to characterise 414 APEC and 28 chicken commensal isolates, isolated from United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium between 2003 and 2017.