O side chain deficiency enhances sensitivity of Escherichia coli to Shiga toxin 2-converting bacteriophages.

We investigated the relationship between expression of the O side chain of outer membrane lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and infection by a Shiga toxin 2 (Stx2)-converting phage in normal and benign strains of Escherichia coli. Of 19 wild-type E. coli strains isolated from the feces of healthy subjects, those with low-molecular-weight LPS showed markedly higher susceptibility to lytic and lysogenic infection by Stx2 phages than those with high-molecular-weight LPS. All lysogens produced infectious phage particles and Stx2. The Stx-negative E. coli O157:H7 strain ATCC43888 with an intact O side chain was found to be resistant to lysis by an Stx2 phage and lysogenic infection by a recombinant Stx2 phage, whereas a rfbE mutant deficient in the expression of the O side chain was readily infected by the phage and yielded stable lysogens. The evidence suggests that an O side chain deficiency leads to the creation of new pathotypes of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) within the intestinal microflora.