Pathogenomes and variations in Shiga toxin production among geographically distinct clones of Escherichia coli O113:H21

Infections with globally disseminated Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) of the O113:H21 serotype can progress to severe clinical complications, such as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Two phylogeographically distinct clonal complexes have been established by multi locus sequence typing (MLST). Infections with ST-820 isolates circulating exclusively in Australia have caused severe human disease, such as HUS. Conversely, ST-223 isolates prevalent in the US and outside Australia seem to rarely cause severe human disease but are frequent contaminants. Following a genomic epidemiology approach, we wanted to gain insights into the underlying cause for this disparity. We examined the plasticity in the genome make-up and Shiga toxin production in a collection of 20 ST-820 and ST-223 strains isolated from produce, the bovine reservoir, and clinical cases. STEC are notorious for assembly into fragmented draft sequences when using short-read sequencing technologies due to the extensive and partly homologous phage complement. The application of long-read technology (LRT) sequencing yielded closed reference chromosomes and plasmids for two representative ST-820 and ST-223 strains. The established high-resolution framework, based on whole genome alignments, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-typing and MLST, includes the chromosomes and plasmids of other publicly available O113:H21 sequences and allowed us to refine the phylogeographical boundaries of ST-820 and ST-223 complex isolates and to further identify a historic non-shigatoxigenic strain from Mexico as a quasi-intermediate. Plasmid comparison revealed strong correlations between the strains' featured pO113 plasmid genotypes and chromosomally inferred ST, which suggests coevolution of the chromosome and virulence plasmids. Our pathogenicity assessment revealed statistically significant differences in the Stx_2a-production capabilities of ST-820 as compared to ST-223 strains under RecA-induced Stx phage mobilization, a condition that mimics Stx-phage induction. These observations suggest that ST-820 strains may confer an increased pathogenic potential in line with the strain-associated epidemiological metadata. Still, some of the tested ST-223 cultures sourced from contaminated produce or the bovine reservoir also produced Stx at levels comparable to those of ST-820 isolates, which calls for awareness and for continued surveillance of this lineage.