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Characterization of the novel temperate Escherichia coli phage phiStx2k

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Abstract

A novel temperate phage, phiStx2k, was induced from a clinical Escherichia coli isolate producing Shiga toxin (Stx) 2k. The phage particles have an icosahedral head (50 nm in diameter) and a long non-contractile tail (149 nm long). The phage genome consists of 46,647 bp of double-stranded DNA with an average G + C content of 51%. Genome sequence comparisons suggested that phiStx2k represents a new genus in the class Caudoviricetes. phiStx2k was capable of converting non-Stx-producing E. coli strains to Stx producers. These results expand our knowledge on the characteristics of Stx phages and highlight the potential risks of the emergence of Stx-producing strains or novel pathogens via horizontal gene transfer.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82072254). We are very grateful for the high-quality electron microscopy technical support provided by Jingdong Song from the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, China CDC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China

    Xi Yang, Xinxia Sui, Qian Liu, Hua Wang, Hui Sun, Xiangning Bai & Yanwen Xiong

  2. Division of Laboratory Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway

    Xiangning Bai

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  1. Xi Yang
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  2. Xinxia Sui
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  3. Qian Liu
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  4. Hua Wang
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  5. Hui Sun
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  6. Xiangning Bai
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  7. Yanwen Xiong
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yanwen Xiong.

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All of the authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Nucleotide sequence accession number

The complete genome sequence of phiStx2k with annotation was submitted to the GenBank database under the accession number OQ243220.

Additional information

Communicated by Johannes Wittmann.

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Yang, X., Sui, X., Liu, Q. et al. Characterization of the novel temperate Escherichia coli phage phiStx2k. Arch Virol 169, 5 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-023-05941-0

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