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Novel bacteriophages containing a genome of another bacteriophage within their genomes

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e40683.pdf (1.092Mb)
Date
17/07/2012
Author
Swanson, Maud M.
Reavy, Brian
Makarova, Kira S.
Cock, Peter J.
Hopkins, David W.
Torrance, Lesley
Koonin, Eugene V.
Taliansky, Michael
Keywords
Novel bacteriophage
SpaA1 genome
DNA replication
MZTP02
Chimeric genomes
Virus evolution
Horizontal gene transfer
Q Science
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Abstract
A novel bacteriophage infecting Staphylococus pasteuri was isolated during a screen for phages in Antarctic soils. The phage named SpaA1 is morphologically similar to phages of the family Siphoviridae. The 42,784 bp genome of SpaA1 is a linear, double-stranded DNA molecule with 39 protruding cohesive ends. The SpaA1 genome encompasses 63 predicted protein-coding genes which cluster within three regions of the genome, each of apparently different origin, in a mosaic pattern. In two of these regions, the gene sets resemble those in prophages of Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki str. T03a001 (genes involved in DNA replication/transcription, cell entry and exit) and B. cereus AH676 (additional regulatory and recombination genes), respectively. The third region represents an almost complete genome (except for the short terminal segments) of a distinct bacteriophage, MZTP02. Nearly the same gene module was identified in prophages of B. thuringiensis serovar monterrey BGSC 4AJ1 and B. cereus Rock4-2. These findings suggest that MZTP02 can be shuttled between genomes of other bacteriophages and prophages, leading to the formation of chimeric genomes. The presence of a complete phage genome in the genome of other phages apparently has not been described previously and might represent a 'fast track' route of virus evolution and horizontal gene transfer. Another phage (BceA1) nearly identical in sequence to SpaA1, and also including the almost complete MZTP02 genome within its own genome, was isolated from a bacterium of the B. cereus/B. thuringiensis group. Remarkably, both SpaA1 and BceA1 phages can infect B. cereus and B. thuringiensis, but only one of them, SpaA1, can infect S. pasteuri. This finding is best compatible with a scenario in which MZTP02 was originally contained in BceA1 infecting Bacillus spp, the common hosts for these two phages, followed by emergence of SpaA1 infecting S. pasteuri.
Citation
Swanson , M M , Reavy , B , Makarova , K S , Cock , P J , Hopkins , D W , Torrance , L , Koonin , E V & Taliansky , M 2012 , ' Novel bacteriophages containing a genome of another bacteriophage within their genomes ' , PLoS One , vol. 7 , no. 7 , e40683 . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040683
Publication
PLoS One
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040683
ISSN
1932-6203
Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2012 Swanson et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Description
The work was funded by the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) Division
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/4144

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