Sak and Sak4 recombinases are required for bacteriophage replication in Staphylococcus aureus
Abstract
DNA-single strand annealing proteins (SSAPs) are recombinases frequently encoded in the genome of many bacteriophages. As SSAPs can promote homologous recombination among DNA substrates with an important degree of divergence, these enzymes are involved both in DNA repair and in the generation of phage mosaicisms. Here, analysing Sak and Sak4 as representatives of two different families of SSAPs present in phages infecting the clinically relevant bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, we demonstrate for the first time that these enzymes are absolutely required for phage reproduction. Deletion of the genes encoding these enzymes significantly reduced phage replication and the generation of infectious particles. Complementation studies revealed that these enzymes are required both in the donor (after prophage induction) and in the recipient strain (for infection). Moreover, our results indicated that to perform their function SSAPs require the activity of their cognate single strand binding (Ssb) proteins. Mutational studies demonstrated that the Ssb proteins are also required for phage replication, both in the donor and recipient strain. In summary, our results expand the functions attributed to the Sak and Sak4 proteins, and demonstrate that both SSAPs and Ssb proteins are essential for the life cycle of temperate staphylococcal phages.
Citation
Neamah , M M , Mir-Sanchis , I , López-Sanz , M , Acosta , S , Baquedano , I , Haag , A F , Marina , A , Ayora , S & Penadés , J R 2017 , ' Sak and Sak4 recombinases are required for bacteriophage replication in Staphylococcus aureus ' , Nucleic Acids Research , vol. 45 , no. 11 , pp. 6507-6519 . https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkx308
Publication
Nucleic Acids Research
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0305-1048Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Description
Medical Research Council (UK) [MR/M003876/1]; Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC, UK) [BB/N002873/1]; from European Union [ERC-ADG-2014 Proposal n° 670932 Dut-signal to J.R.P.]; MINECO (Spain) [BFU2012-39879-C02-02, BFU2015-67065-P to S.A.]; MINECO (Spain) [BIO2013-42619-P]; Valencian Government [Prometeo II/2014/029 to A.M.]. Funding for open access charge: Medical Research Council (UK).Collections
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