Characterization of two related Erwinia myoviruses that are distant relatives of the PhiKZ-like Jumbo phages

PLoS One. 2018 Jul 6;13(7):e0200202. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200202. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Bacteriophages are a major force in the evolution of bacteria due to their sheer abundance as well as their ability to infect and kill their hosts and to transfer genetic material. Bacteriophages that infect the Enterobacteriaceae family are of particular interest because this bacterial family contains dangerous animal and plant pathogens. Herein we report the isolation and characterization of two jumbo myovirus Erwinia phages, RisingSun and Joad, collected from apple trees. These two genomes are nearly identical with Joad harboring two additional putative gene products. Despite mass spectrometry data that support the putative annotation, 43% of their gene products have no significant BLASTP hit. These phages are also more closely related to Pseudomonas and Vibrio phages than to published Enterobacteriaceae phages. Of the 140 gene products with a BLASTP hit, 81% and 63% of the closest hits correspond to gene products from Pseudomonas and Vibrio phages, respectively. This relatedness may reflect their ecological niche, rather than the evolutionary history of their host. Despite the presence of over 800 Enterobacteriaceae phages on NCBI, the uniqueness of these two phages highlights the diversity of Enterobacteriaceae phages still to be discovered.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Enterobacteriaceae / virology
  • Erwinia / virology*
  • Genome, Viral
  • Host Specificity
  • Malus / microbiology
  • Malus / virology
  • Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
  • Models, Molecular
  • Myoviridae / classification
  • Myoviridae / genetics*
  • Myoviridae / isolation & purification*
  • Proteome / genetics
  • Pseudomonas / virology
  • Vibrio / virology
  • Viral Proteins / chemistry
  • Viral Proteins / genetics

Substances

  • Proteome
  • Viral Proteins

Grants and funding

This work was graciously funded by the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology and the College of Life Sciences at Brigham Young University, as well as a private individual donor. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.