Stx phages convert their bacterial hosts, providing them with shigatoxigenic potential. All E. coli carrying Stx phage are known as Shiga toxin-encoding Escherichia coli (STEC) and have become a global challenge to food safety. Around 74% of the genes carried by the model Stx phage, ϕ24B (vB_EcoP_24B), are annotated as hypothetical, and we have been ascribing function to many of these genes. The expression of some hypothetical genes has been shown to be uncoupled from viral replication, but

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... tion to aid the lysogen in surviving environmental stresses such as antibiotic and acid exposures. Two genes are examined in this study, gene 21 (vB _24B_21) and gene 48 (vB _24B_48). The former is expressed only at the end of the lytic cycle and the latter only during the lysogenic cycle.