Cytolethal distending toxin producing Escherichia coli O157:H43 strain T22 represents a novel evolutionary lineage within the O157 serogroup

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7/NM strains are significant foodborne pathogens intensively studied, while other sero- and pathotypes of the O157 serogroup only began to receive more attention. Here we report the first genome sequence of a cytolethal distending toxin (CDT-V) producing E. coli O157:H43 strain (T22) isolated from cattle. The genome consists of a 4.9 Mb chromosome assembled into three contigs and one plasmid of 82.4 kb. Comparative genomic investigations conducted with the core genomes of representative E. coli strains in GenBank (n = 62) confirmed the separation of T22 from the EHEC and enteropathogenic (EPEC) O157 lineages. Gene content based pangenome analysis revealed as many as 261 T22-specific coding sequences without orthologs in EDL933 EHEC O157 prototypic and two phylogenetically related commensal E. coli strains. The genome sequence revealed 10 prophage-like regions which harbor several virulence-associated genes including cdt and heat-labile enterotoxin (LT-II) encoding operons. Our results indicate that the evolutionary path of T22 is largely independent from that of EHEC and EPEC O157:H7/NM strains. Thus, the CDT-producing T22 E. coli O157:H43 strain represents a unique lineage of E. coli O157.