Mehdi Kamali
Behnam Bakhshi
Ali Salimi
Ehsan Mohseni Fard
Mohammad Hasan Darvishi
Elahe Ehghaghi

Background: Shigella dysenteriae are Gram-negative and non-sporulating bacteria that cause illness in epithelial tissue of the colon and rectum. According to a preliminary analysis, rare or no reports could introduce highly reliable and specific genes, primers, and probes for S. dysenteriae recognition. Thus, it is necessary to detect specific genome parts in S. dysenteriae that could be used in diagnostic laboratories to recognize S. dysenteriae species confidently. Methods: Identification of specific S. dysenteriae genome regions as DNA-barcodes was the main objective of the current study to accrue detection of this species. To this end, S. dysenteriae genome was compared with other Enterobacteriaceae genomes. Results: Results indicated that there is little genetic distance between S. dysenteriae and E. coli, and most of the genes are common between these ۲ species. The lowest genome fluidity was observed between S. dysenteriae and Escherichia coli, and Salmonella enterica. Furthermore, the largest number of orthologous genes was observed between S. dysenteriae and E. coli (O۱۵۷_H۷). All previous markers and virulent genes were also evaluated in the current study. However, no specific DNA barcodes were identified among already identified genes. Additionally, all regions of S. dysenteriae genome were investigated in the current study using specific region identifier programs by comparison with other Enterobacteriaceae strains. Conclusions: Finally, eight specific DNA-barcodes were identified in the current study that could be beneficial for specific recognition of S. dysenteriae strains.