Characterising functional prophages associated with African lineages of Salmonella Typhimurium assocaited with invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella disease. iNTS phages

In the past 30 years a newly emerged lineage of Salmonella Typhimurium, ST313, has become endemic in sub-Saharan Africa, and has a high rate of mortality in the mal-nourished and HIV positive population. Whilst many other non-typhoidal Salmonella serovars circulate within the African population, ST313 is particularly prevalent and causes more severe, invasive disease. As yet the phage biology of the African lineage is unknown. Comparative genomics analysis shows this lineage is very closely related to non-invasive Typhimurium strains, with the exception of unique prophage elements. The ability of novel ST313-specific bacteriophages to infect and lyse other Salmonella strains could be an important competitive advantage during infection and may have contributed to the dominance of ST313 in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aims to characterise the prophages of this epidemic African lineage of Salmonella Typhimurium.