Bacteriophage-encoding cytolethal distending toxin type V gene induced from nonclinical Escherichia coli isolates.

ABSTRACT: Cytolethal distending toxin (Cdt) is produced by a variety of pathogenic bacteria, including pathogenic serotypes of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). The Cdt family comprises five variants (Cdt-I to Cdt-V) encoded by three genes located within the chromosome or plasmids or, in the case of Cdt-I, within bacteriophages. In this study, we evaluated the occurrence of the cdt gene in a collection of 140 environmental STEC isolates. cdt was detected in 12.1% of strains, of which five strains carried inducible bacteriophages containing the Cdt-V variant. Two Cdt-V phages of the Siphoviridae morphology lysogenized Shigella sonnei, generating two lysogens: a single Cdt phage lysogen and a double lysogen, containing a Cdt phage and an Stx phage, both from the wild-type strain. The rate

SUBMITTER: Allue-Guardia A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3147592 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature