Azumi Tamura, Aa Haeruman Azam, Tomohiro Nakamura, Kenichi Lee, Sunao Iyoda, Kohei Kondo, Shinjiro Ojima, Kotaro Chihara, Wakana Yamashita, Longzhu Cui, Yukihiro Akeda, Koichi Watashi, Yoshimasa Takahashi, Hiroshi Yotsuyanagi, Kotaro Kiga
Escherichia coli O157 can cause foodborne outbreaks, with infection leading to severe disease such as hemolytic-uremic syndrome. Although phage-based detection methods for E. coli O157 are being explored, research on their specificity with clinical isolates is lacking. Here, we describe an in vitro assembly-based synthesis of vB_Eco4M-7, an O157 antigen-specific phage with a 68-kb genome, and its use as a proof of concept for E. coli O157 detection. Linking the detection tag to the C-terminus of the tail fiber protein, gp27 produces the greatest detection sensitivity of the 20 insertions sites tested...
May 6, 2024: Communications Biology