Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157 subclade 8b strains in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, produced larger amounts of Shiga toxin 2 than strains in subclade 8a and other clades.

Shinichiro Hirai,Taku Wakui,Masaki Nakamura,Eiji Yokoyama,Taichiro Ishige,Pina Fratamico

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0191834

Shinichiro Hirai, Taku Wakui + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0191834

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Abstract

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157 (O157) strains can be classified into clades (one of several phylogenetic groups) by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs): these are clade 1, clade 2, clade 3, descendant and ancestral clades 4/5, clade 6, clade 7, clade 8, clade 9, and clade 12. Some recent studies showed that some O157 strains in clade 8 produced a larger amount of Shiga toxin (Stx) 2 than other strains. In this study, 1121 epidemiologically unlinked strains of O157 isolated in Chiba Prefecture, Japan were classified into clades during 1996–2014. Clade 8 strains were further classified into subclade 8a (67 strains) and subclade 8b (48 strains) using SNP analysis. In the absence of mitomycin C (MMC), subclade 8a strains in this study produced significantly greater amounts of Stx2 than subclade 8b strains. However, in the presence of MMC, the levels of Stx2 production in subclade 8b strains were significantly greater than subclade 8a strains. On the other hand, a recent study reported that the Stx2 production level in O157 strains was determined mainly by the subtypes of Stx2a phage (ϕStx2_α, β, γ, δ, ε, and ζ). Using O157 strains in this study, the Stx2a phages were classified into these subtypes. In this study, all strains of subclades 8a and 8b carried ϕStx2a_γ and ϕStx2a_δ, respectively. Some strains in clade 6 also carried ϕStx2a_δ. In the presence of MMC, subclade 8b strains produced significantly greater amounts of Stx2 than clade 6 strains carrying ϕStx2_δ. In this study, we propose that Stx2 production in subclade 8b strains in the presence of MMC might be enhanced due to genetic factors other than ϕStx2_δ.

Highlights

Phylogenetic groups are groups of bacterial strains originating from a common ancestral clone [1, 2]
We have reported that clade 8 strains could be putatively classified into two groups based on the distribution of insertion sequence (IS) 629 in the O157 genome [18] i.e. the distributions of IS629 in clade 8 strains were roughly divided into two different patterns
An Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree (MLPT) reconstructed using data for 7 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) showed that clade 8 strains were divided into two subgroups (Fig 1 and S3 Table)

Summary

Introduction

Phylogenetic groups are groups of bacterial strains originating from a common ancestral clone [1, 2]. High level of Stx production in subclade 8b of EHEC O157. All funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

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