ulcerans[24]. The C. ulcerans 809 strain was isolated from a patient with a rapid fatal pulmonary infection. The 809 strain-unique virulence factor (shiga toxin-like ribosome-binding protein, Rbp) is located adjacent to the truncated integrase (CULC809_00176)

and corresponds to the integrase of ΦCULC0102-I. It appears that virulence factors have been acquired as a cassette gene in the ΦCULC0102-I-like prophage. Lenvatinib It is intriguing to note that the 0102 strain does not carry the 809 strain-unique virulence factors (Rbp and the additional venom serine protease, Vsp2), but instead carries the tox gene on ΦCULC0102-I, which resulted in a diphtheria-like illness in a 52-year-old Angiogenesis inhibitor woman. Isolates of C. ulcerans are generally obtained from a diverse range of animals, including humans. Isolation of a human pathogen C. diphtheriae from animals has been reported previously, although it is rare [31]. The tox gene might be frequently transmitted through common prophages with the aid of the highly homologous regions among Corynebacterium spp., including C. diphtheriae and C. ulcerans isolated from animal sources. Conclusions Toxigenic C. ulcerans is an emerging pathogen that can be transmitted from animals to humans [5]. In the host organism, as well as in C. diphtheriae, the tox gene [18] is encoded by prophages. Through genome sequencing, we have identified a novel structure

in a tox-positive C. ulcerans prophage with no significant sequence homology to those in C. diphtheriae. This suggests distinct origins of the prophages and thus may also explain the difference in the primary structures of their tox genes. The tox-positive bacteriophages may increase the dissemination risk of toxigenic C. ulcerans isolates, therefore, C. ulcerans isolates from both G protein-coupled receptor kinase human and animal sources should be investigated further to determine the

level of variation. Methods This research was not carried out on humans. No experimental research on animals was carried out. Bacterial strain The toxigenic C. ulcerans isolate 0102 was obtained in 2001 as a human clinical isolate [22, 23]. Preparation of genomic DNA Genomic DNA was isolated by conventional methods, using phenol extraction and ethanol precipitation from heat-killed bacterial cells propagated in brain-heart infusion liquid medium. Short-read DNA sequencing using an Illumina Genome Analyzer IIx DNA libraries of the ~600 bp insert length of C. ulcerans 0102 were prepared using a genomic DNA Sample Prep Kit (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA). DNA clusters were generated on a slide using a Cluster Generation Kit (ver. 4) on an Illumina Cluster Station (Illumina), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Sequencing runs for 80-mer short reads were performed using an Illumina Genome Analyzer IIx (GA IIx) and TruSeq SBS kit v5.