Prevailing clone (ST69) of Vibrio cholerae O139 in India over 10 years

Vibrio cholerae is responsible for the cause of severe life-threatening infection known as cholera. The study aimed to analyze the genetic make-up of V. cholerae O139 isolates from India and compare its phylogeny with the global strains. The genome data revealed that all isolates were of same sequence type (ST69) which belongs to seventh pandemic clone, with same virulence gene profile and, antimicrobial resistance gene profile except for two isolates. No known CRISPR repeats were identified in any of these isolates. Three different phages were identified among the isolates. All the isolates were found to harbour int _SXT and seventh pandemic-specific gene (VC2346). Results from this study enhance our understanding on the persistence of ST69 V. cholerae O139 over 20 years.