Isolation of enterohemolysin (Ehly2)-associated sequences encoded on temperate phages of Escherichia coli.

We have cloned and sequenced the enterohemolysin (ehl)-associated region from a temperate bacteriophage isolated from an Escherichia coli O26:H11 strain. Phage phi C3208 was isolated together with other temperate bacteriophages which transduce the enterohemolytic phenotype to non-hemolytic E. coli O26 strains. The nucleotide sequence of the 1245-bp phi C3208 DNA insert in plasmid pEO39, which mediates Ehly2 production in E. coli K-12, was determined and was found to be partially homologous to DNA of bacteriophage lambda but is completely unrelated to DNA sequences encoding the synthesis of Ehly1 [Stroeher et al. Gene 132 (1993), 89-94]. It was shown that part of this region can be used as an Hly2-associated specific DNA probe.