Prophages Present in Influence Bacterial Virulence, Antibiotic Resistance, and Genomic Rearrangements.

Antibiotic resistance and virulence are common among bacterial populations, posing a global clinical challenge. The bacterial species , an infectious agent in clinical environments, has shown increasing rates of antibiotic resistance. Viruses that integrate as prophages into could be a potential cause of this pathogenicity, as they often contain antibiotic resistance or virulence factor gene sequences. In this study, we analyzed 25 strains for potential prophages. Using virulence factor databases, we identified many common and virulent prophages in . The analysis also included a specific catalogue of the virulence factors and antibiotic resistance genes contributed by prophages. Finally, our results illustrate multiple similarities between and its bacterial relatives with regard to prophage integration sites and prevalence. These findings provide a broader insight into prophage behavior that can be applied to future studies on similar species in the - complex.