Poster Presentation BACPATH 2017

Bacteriophages are the major drivers of Shigella flexneri serotype 1c genome plasticity: a complete genome analysis (#153)

Pawan Parajuli 1 , Marcin Adamski 1 , Naresh Verma 1
  1. Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

Shigella flexneri is the primary cause of bacillary dysentery in the developing countries. S. flexneri serotype 1c is a novel serotype, which is found to be endemic in many developing countries, but little is known about its genomic architecture and virulence signatures. We have sequenced for the first time, the complete genome of S. flexneri serotype 1c strain Y394, to provide insights into its diversity and evolution. We generated a high-quality reference genome of S. flexneri serotype 1c using the hybrid methods of long-read single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing technology and short-read MiSeq (Illumina) sequencing technology. The Y394 chromosome is 4.58 Mb in size and shares the basic genomic features with other S. flexneri complete genomes. However, it possesses unique and highly modified O-antigen structure comprising of three distinct O-antigen modifying gene clusters that potentially came from three different bacteriophages. It also possesses a large number of hypothetical unique genes compared to other S. flexneri genomes. The identification of several hypothetical genes in the pathogenic islands and putative bacteriophage regions warrants future investigation for determining the role of these unknown genes in relevance to pathogen’s virulence and survival in the host environment.