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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Produce Safety and Microbiology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #349927
Research Project: Ecology and Detection of Human Pathogens in the Produce Production Continuum

Location: Produce Safety and Microbiology Research

Title: Complete genome sequence of Escherichia coli Phage vB_EcoS Sa179lw isolated from surface water in a produce-growing area in northern california

Author
item Liao, Yen-Te
item LIU, FANG - Ocean University Of China
item SUN, XINCHENG - Zhengzhou University
item Li, Robert
item Wu, Vivian

Submitted to: Genome Announcements
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/31/2018
Publication Date: 7/5/2018
Citation: Liao, Y., Liu, F., Sun, X., Li, R.W., Wu, V.C. 2018. Complete genome sequence of Escherichia coli Phage vB_EcoS Sa179lw isolated from surface water in a produce-growing area in northern California. Genome Announcements. 6(27):e00337-18. https://doi.org/10.1128/genomeA.00337-18.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/genomeA.00337-18

Interpretive Summary: Phages, particularly lytic ones, have been found to have the potential and benefit to control foodborne pathogens, such as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) bacteria that have been closely linked to the outbreaks associated with consumption of contaminated produce products. Here, we isolated a phage, called Sa179lw, from surface water collected in produce-growing area. The phage was specifically lytic against O179 STEC strain. Phage Sa179lw belonged to the family Siphoviridae, with a morphology that had a long and noncontractile tail. The phage had a double-stranded DNA with a genome size of 46,833 bp in which there were 84 predicted genes. Although no stx genes were detected, the genome harbored an eae gene with 95% homology to that in an outbreak-associated E. coli O145:H28 strain. Genetically, this was a new and unclassified phage at genus level as compared to other published and well-known phages in GenBank database. This phage genome provides valuable insights into the diversity to those bacteriophages that can serve as potential agent for the transfer of virulence genes between a phage and its bacterial hosts.

Technical Abstract: Non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) can cause foodborne illness as severe as STEC O157 strains and have been associated with produce outbreaks in Europe and US. Due to the lytic nature to their bacterial hosts, these bacteriophages (phages) have the potential to control STEC strains. Here, we report a new isolated phage, Sa179lw, which has lytic infection against O179 STEC strains isolated from Salinas Valley, CA. With the presence of an eae-like gene that was associated with previous O145 STEC outbreaks, this phage can serve as a potential candidate to study the transfer of virulence genes between a phage and its bacterial hosts.