Phage-mediated horizontal transfer of Salmonella enterica virulence genes with regulatory feedback from the host (iMeta 2025)

She et al. retrieved 5,178 viral sequences encoding 12 Salmonella enterica virulence genes from the IMG/VR database and compared them with 466,136 S. enterica genomes from EnteroBase. Virulence genes including iacP, mgtB, misL and fliC were widely distributed in phages and S. enterica across North America, Europe and Asia, and overexpression of the highly conserved regulator csrA inhibited prophage cyclization and release by upregulating the prophage cI repressor.