Global distribution of epidemic-related Shiga toxin 2 encoding phages among enteroaggregative Escherichia coli

Sci Rep. 2020 Jul 16;10(1):11738. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-68462-9.

Abstract

Since the Shiga toxin-producing enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (Stx-EAEC) O104:H4 strain caused a massive outbreak across Europe in 2011, the importance of Stx-EAEC has attracted attention from a public health perspective. Two Stx-EAEC O86 isolates were obtained from patients with severe symptoms in Japan in 1999 and 2015. To characterize the phylogeny and pathogenic potential of these Stx-EAEC O86 isolates, whole-genome sequence analyses were performed by short-and long-read sequencing. Among genetically diverse E. coli O86, the Stx-EAEC O86 isolates were clustered with the EAEC O86:H27 ST3570 subgroup. Strikingly, there were only two loci with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) between the Stx2a phage of a Japanese O86:H27 isolate and that of the European epidemic-related Stx-EAEC O104:H4 isolate. These results provide evidence of global distribution of epidemic-related Stx2a phages among various lineages of E. coli with few mutations.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Disease Outbreaks
  • Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli / genetics*
  • Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli / virology*
  • Epidemics
  • Escherichia coli Infections / epidemiology*
  • Escherichia coli Infections / microbiology*
  • Gene Order
  • Genome, Bacterial
  • Humans
  • Japan / epidemiology
  • Shiga Toxin 2 / genetics*
  • Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli / genetics*
  • Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli / virology*
  • Virulence
  • Whole Genome Sequencing

Substances

  • Shiga Toxin 2