Escherichia coli O157 Strains Which Caused Japanese Outbreaks Have Residues of Bacteriophage Sequences

Abstract

Twelve strains of Escherichia coli O157 which caused outbreaks in Japan were used as DNA sources. The sequences of the gene encoding the Shiga toxin 2 in all 12 strains were almost identical and the sequences downstream of this gene were similar to that of bacteriophage 933W.