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Evidence that 55989 had Shiga-toxin-producing ancestor?

Posted by mpallen on 26 Jul 2011 at 06:56 GMT

Sorry, but I have not been able to follow the logic of your argument that strain 55989 had a Shiga-toxin-producing ancestor. I understand that 55989 has an intact insertion site for the phage, but then so do most E. coli strains, including the model strain K-12. Could you explain why, in plain and simple terms, you favour

1. a scenario in which the ancestor of 55989 and the German outbreak strain gained the phage, retained it on the lineage leading to the outbreak strain, but lost it in the 55989 lineage

over

2. a scenario in which the lineage gained the phage only after the divergence of 55989.

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RE: Evidence that 55989 had Shiga-toxin-producing ancestor?

mpallen replied to mpallen on 19 Aug 2011 at 16:16 GMT

Can one of the authors of this paper respond to my comment please, as I cannot follow your logic?

No competing interests declared.