Shiga-toxin-2 (stx2)-encoding bacteriophages were isolated from Norwegian Escherichia coli O157:H7 isolates of cattle and human origin. The phages were characterized by restriction enzyme analysis, hybridization with probes for toxin genes and selected phage DNA such as the P gene, integrase gene and IS1203, and by PCR studies and partial sequencing of selected DNA regions in the integrase to stx2 region of the phages. The stx2-phage-containing bacteria from which inducible phages were detected produced similar amounts of toxin, as shown by a Vero cell assay. The results indicate that the population of stx2-carrying phages is heterogeneous, although the phages from epidemiologically linked E. coli O157:H7 isolates were similar. There appears to have been frequent recombination of stx2 phages with other lambdoid phages.
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