{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,13]],"date-time":"2026-10-13T14:37:37Z","timestamp":1791902257324,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"American Society for Microbiology","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,19]],"date-time":"2026-03-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773878400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,19]],"date-time":"2026-03-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773878400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/non-commercial-tdm-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.asm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J Bacteriol"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,19]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title\/>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Uropathogenic\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Escherichia coli<\/jats:italic>\n                      (UPEC) strains that express the K1 capsule are associated with severe invasive disease, including pyelonephritis, urosepsis, and neonatal meningitis. The K1 capsule can be modified by NeuO, a phage-encoded phase-variable O-acetyltransferase. The role of O-acetylation in pathogenesis of K1 UPEC remains to be fully elucidated. Here, we assessed the prevalence of the\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">neuO<\/jats:italic>\n                      gene in a K1\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">E. coli<\/jats:italic>\n                      data set comprising 8,659 genomes and observed that 43.5% of genomes harbor\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">neuO<\/jats:italic>\n                      , with a high prevalence (88.1%) in the pandemic UPEC clone sequence type (ST) 95. We generated an isogenic \u2206\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">neuO<\/jats:italic>\n                      mutant in the reference ST95 strain MS7163 and complemented this with a phase-ON locked version of the\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">neuO<\/jats:italic>\n                      gene, resulting in constitutive O-acetylation of the K1 capsule. The phase-variable rate of\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">neuO<\/jats:italic>\n                      in MS7163 was measured by fragment analysis at 93% phase-ON with 21 heptanucleotide repeats. NeuO acetylated the K1 sialic acid into O-acetylated forms, including Neu5,7Ac2, Neu5,8Ac2, and Neu5,9Ac2. We demonstrate that O-acetylation increased survival of K1 UPEC to lytic K1 phage and human neutrophils, yet increased susceptibility to human serum. O-acetylation of the K1 capsule did not influence bladder colonization in a murine model of urinary tract infection. Overall, we hypothesize that phase-variable O-acetylation is a niche-specific adaptive mechanism that enhances survival of UPEC in different ways, including protection against K1 phage and resistance to neutrophil-mediated killing.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                    <jats:sec>\n                      <jats:title>IMPORTANCE<\/jats:title>\n                      <jats:p>\n                        The K1 polysialic acid capsule is a key virulence factor of uropathogenic\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Escherichia coli<\/jats:italic>\n                        (UPEC). A subset of K1 UPEC possesses the phage-encoded phase-variable\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">neuO<\/jats:italic>\n                        gene, which mediates O-acetylation of the capsule. However, the prevalence, phase dynamics, and biological consequences of this modification remain to be fully elucidated. Here, we show that the\n                        <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">neuO<\/jats:italic>\n                        gene exhibits variable distribution among K1 UPEC, with a high prevalence in the global ST95 clone and evidence for active phase switching. We further demonstrate that K1 O-acetylation confers resistance to phage and neutrophil killing, suggesting a role associated with enhanced survival in infection and environmental settings.\n                      <\/jats:p>\n                    <\/jats:sec>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1128\/jb.00610-25","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,10]],"date-time":"2026-02-10T14:00:33Z","timestamp":1770732033000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/asmj-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["NeuO-mediated O-acetylation of uropathogenic\n                    <i>Escherichia coli<\/i>\n                    K1 capsule enhances resistance to phage and neutrophil killing"],"prefix":"10.1128","volume":"208","author":[{"given":"Lachlan L.","family":"Walker","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00rqy9422","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland","place":["Brisbane, Australia"]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00rqy9422","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre, The University of Queensland","place":["Brisbane, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0158-850X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Nguyen Thi Khanh","family":"Nhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00rqy9422","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland","place":["Brisbane, Australia"]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00rqy9422","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre, The University of Queensland","place":["Brisbane, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zheng Jie","family":"Lian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00rqy9422","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland","place":["Brisbane, Australia"]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00rqy9422","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre, The University of Queensland","place":["Brisbane, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kate M.","family":"Peters","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00rqy9422","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland","place":["Brisbane, Australia"]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00rqy9422","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre, The University of Queensland","place":["Brisbane, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mercedes","family":"Monteleone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00rqy9422","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland","place":["Brisbane, Australia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"James P. 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