Genomic Analysis of Two Novel Bacteriophages Infecting Acinetobacter beijerinckii and halotolerans Species

Marta Gomes; Rita Domingues; Dann Turner; Hugo Oliveira

doi:10.3390/v15030643

Genomic Analysis of Two Novel Bacteriophages Infecting Acinetobacter beijerinckii and halotolerans Species

Viruses. 2023 Feb 28;15(3):643. doi: 10.3390/v15030643.

Authors

Marta Gomes^{1

2}, Rita Domingues^{1

2}, Dann Turner³, Hugo Oliveira^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
² LABBELS-Associate Laboratory, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
³ School of Applied Sciences, College of Health, Science and Society, University of the West of England, Bristol Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK.

Abstract

Bacteriophages are the most diverse genetic entities on Earth. In this study, two novel bacteriophages, nACB1 (Podoviridae morphotype) and nACB2 (Myoviridae morphotype), which infect Acinetobacter beijerinckii and Acinetobacter halotolerans, respectively, were isolated from sewage samples. The genome sequences of nACB1 and nACB2 revealed that their genome sizes were 80,310 bp and 136,560 bp, respectively. Comparative analysis showed that both genomes are novel members of the Schitoviridae and the Ackermannviridae families, sharing ≤ 40% overall nucleotide identities with any other phages. Interestingly, among other genetic features, nACB1 encoded a very large RNA polymerase, while nACB2 displayed three putative depolymerases (two capsular depolymerases and one capsular esterase) encoded in tandem. This is the first report of phages infecting A. halotolerans and beijerinckii human pathogenic species. The findings regarding these two phages will allow us to further explore phage-Acinetobacter interactions and the genetic evolution for this group of phages.

Keywords: Acinetobacter; bacteriophages; bioinformatics; comparative genomics.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Acinetobacter* / genetics
Bacteriophages* / genetics
Genome, Viral
Genomics
Humans
Phylogeny

Supplementary concepts

Acinetobacter beijerinckii

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit, and by LABBELS—Associate Laboratory in Biotechnology, Bioengineering and Microelectromechnical Systems, LA/P/0029/2020.