TY - JOUR AU - Jakhetia, Richa AU - Marri, Aruna AU - Ståhle, Jonas AU - Widmalm, Göran AU - Verma, Naresh K. PY - 2014 DA - 2014/08/30 TI - Serotype-conversion in Shigella flexneri:identification of a novel bacteriophage, Sf101, from a serotype 7a strain JO - BMC Genomics SP - 742 VL - 15 IS - 1 AB - Shigella flexneri is the major cause of bacillary dysentery in the developing countries. The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) O-antigen of S. flexneri plays an important role in its pathogenesis and also divides S. flexneri into 19 serotypes. All the serotypes with an exception for serotype 6 share a common O-antigen backbone comprising of N-acetylglucosamine and three rhamnose residues. Different serotypes result from modification of the basic backbone conferred by phage-encoded glucosyltransferase and/or acetyltransferase genes, or plasmid-encoded phosphoethanolamine transferase. Recently, a new site for O-acetylation at positions 3 and 4 of RhaIII, in serotypes 1a, 1b, 2a, 5a and Y was shown to be mediated by the oacB gene. Additionally, this gene was shown to be carried by a transposon-like structure inserted upstream of the adrA region on the chromosome. SN - 1471-2164 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-15-742 DO - 10.1186/1471-2164-15-742 ID - Jakhetia2014 ER -