Isolation and characterization of a novel Tenacibaculum species and a corresponding bacteriophage from a Mediterranean fish hatchery: Description of Tenacibaculum larymnensis sp. nov. and Tenacibaculum phage Larrie

Maria Ioanna Tsertou; Adriana Triga; Stavros Droubogiannis; Constantina Kokkari; Grammatiki Anasi; Pantelis Katharios

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1078669

Isolation and characterization of a novel Tenacibaculum species and a corresponding bacteriophage from a Mediterranean fish hatchery: Description of Tenacibaculum larymnensis sp. nov. and Tenacibaculum phage Larrie

Front Microbiol. 2023 Feb 28:14:1078669. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1078669. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Maria Ioanna Tsertou¹, Adriana Triga^{1

2}, Stavros Droubogiannis^{1

2}, Constantina Kokkari¹, Grammatiki Anasi³, Pantelis Katharios¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Heraklion, Greece.
² Department of Biology, School of Sciences and Engineering, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece.
³ PHILOSOFISH S.A., Larymna, Greece.

Abstract

Tenacibaculum larymnensis sp. nov., a novel species of the Tenacibaculum genus was isolated from a commercial fish hatchery in Greece. The novel species is phylogenetically close to T. discolor and was biochemically and genetically characterized. The genome of T. larymnensis has 3.66 Mbps length, 31.83% GC content and the genomic analysis demonstrated that it harbors a wide enzymatic repertoire suggestive of increased degrading capacity but also several virulence factors including hemolysins, secretion systems, transporters, siderophores, pili and extracellular proteins. Using the novel strain, a virulent bacteriophage designated as Tenacibaculum phage Larrie was isolated and characterized. Larrie is a novel Siphovirus with relatively large genome, 77.5 kbps with 111 ORFs, a GC content of 33.7% and an exclusively lytic lifestyle. The new phage-host system can serve as an efficient model to study microbial interactions in the aquatic environment which contribute to the nutrient cycling.

Keywords: Flavobacteriacae; Tenacibaculum; bacteriophage; fish hatchery; phage-host system.