Our previous study showed that bacterial genomes can be identified using 16S rRNA sequencing in urine specimens of both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients who are culture negative according to standard urine culture protocols. In the present study, we used a modified culture protocol that included plating larger volumes of urine, incubation under varied atmospheric conditions, and prolonged incubation times to demonstrate that many of the organisms identified in urine by 16S rRNA gene sequencing are, in fact, cultivable using an expanded quantitative urine culture (EQUC) protocol. Sixty-five urine specimens (from 41 patients with overactive bladder and 24 controls) were examined using both the standard and EQUC culture techniques. Fifty-two of the 65 urine samples (80%) grew bacterial species using EQUC, while the majority of these (48/52 [92%]) were reported as no growth at 103 CFU/ml by the clinical microbiology laboratory using the standard urine culture protocol. Thirty-five different genera and 85 different species were identified by EQUC. The most prevalent genera isolated were Lactobacillus (15%), followed by Corynebacterium (14.2%), Streptococcus (11.9%), Actinomyces (6.9%), and Staphylococcus (6.9%). Other genera commonly isolated include Aerococcus, Gardnerella, Bifidobacterium, and Actinobaculum. Our current study demonstrates that urine contains communities of living bacteria that comprise a resident female urine microbiota.
Written by:
Evann E. Hilt,a Kathleen McKinley,b Meghan M. Pearce,c Amy B. Rosenfeld,d Michael J. Zilliox,d Elizabeth R. Mueller,e Linda Brubaker,e Xiaowu Gai,d Alan J. Wolfea,c and Paul C. Schreckenbergera, b Are you the author?
aInfectious Disease and Immunology Institute, Stritch School of Medicine Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, Illinois, USA
bDepartment of Pathology, Stritch School of Medicine Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, Illinois, USA
cDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, Stritch School of Medicine Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, Illinois, USA
dDepartment of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Stritch School of Medicine Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, Illinois, USA
eDepartments of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Urology, Stritch School of Medicine Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, Illinois, USA
Reference: J. Clin. Microbiol. March 2014 52(3) 871-87
doi: 10.1128/JCM.02876-13
