The toxigenic classical and El Tor biotypeVibrio choleraeserogroup O1 strains are generated by lysogenization of host-type–specific cholera toxin phages (CTX phages). Experimental evidence of the replication and transmission of an El Tor biotype-specific CTX phage, CTX-1, has explained the evolution ofV. choleraeEl Tor biotype strains. The generation of classical biotype strains has not been demonstrated in the laboratory, and the classical biotype-specific CTX phage, CTX-cla, is considered to be defective with regard to replication. However, the identification of atypical El Tor strains that contain CTX-cla–like phage, CTX-2, indicates that CTX-cla and CTX-2 replicate and can be transmitted toV. choleraestrains. The replication of CTX-cla and CTX-2 phages and the transduction of El Tor biotype strains by various CTX phages under laboratory conditions are demonstrated in this report. We have established a plasmid-based CTX phage replication system that supports the replication of CTX-1, CTX-cla, CTX-2, and CTX-O139. The replication of CTX-2 from the tandem repeat of lysogenic CTX-2 in Wave 2 El Tor strains is also presented. El Tor biotype strains can be transduced by CTX phages in vitro by introducing a point mutation intoxT, the transcriptional activator of thetcp(toxin coregulated pilus) gene cluster and the cholera toxin gene. This mutation also increases the expression of cholera toxin in El Tor strains in a sample single-phase culture. Our results thus constitute experimental evidence of the genetic mechanism of the evolution ofV. cholerae.
In vitro and in vivo cholera toxin production by classical and El Tor isolates of Vibrio cholerae.
