ABSTRACT
Temperate phages are common, and prophages are abundant residents of sequenced bacterial genomes. Mycobacteriophages are viruses that infect mycobacterial hosts including Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium smegmatis, encompass substantial genetic diversity and are commonly temperate. Characterization of ten Cluster N temperate mycobacteriophages revealed at least five distinct prophage-expressed viral defence systems that interfere with the infection of lytic and temperate phages that are either closely related (homotypic defence) or unrelated (heterotypic defence) to the prophage. Target specificity is unpredictable, ranging from a single target phage to one-third of those tested. The defence systems include a single-subunit restriction system, a heterotypic exclusion system and a predicted (p)ppGpp synthetase, which blocks lytic phage growth, promotes bacterial survival and enables efficient lysogeny. The predicted (p)ppGpp synthetase coded by the Phrann prophage defends against phage Tweety infection, but Tweety codes for a tetrapeptide repeat protein, gp54, which acts as a highly effective counter-defence system. Prophage-mediated viral defence offers an efficient mechanism for bacterial success in host-virus dynamics, and counter-defence promotes phage co-evolution.
Subject(s)
Mycobacteriophages/physiology , Mycobacterium smegmatis/virology , Mycobacterium tuberculosis/virology , Prophages/physiology , DNA, Viral/genetics , Genetic Variation , Genome, Bacterial , Genome, Viral , Ligases/genetics , Lysogeny , Mycobacteriophages/genetics , Mycobacterium smegmatis/genetics , Mycobacterium tuberculosis/genetics , Phylogeny , Prophages/enzymology , Prophages/genetics , Viral Proteins/geneticsABSTRACT
AlanGrant, Baee, Corofin, OrangeOswald, and Vincenzo are newly isolated phages of Mycobacterium smegmatis mc(2)155 discovered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. All five phages share nucleotide similarity with cluster B mycobacteriophages but span considerable diversity with Corofin and OrangeOswald in subcluster B3, AlanGrant and Vincenzo in subcluster B4, and Baee in subcluster B5.
ABSTRACT
Luchador and Nerujay are two newly isolated mycobacteriophages recovered from soil samples using Mycobacterium smegmatis. Their genomes are 53,387 bp and 53,455 bp long and have 96 and 97 predicted open reading frames, respectively. Nerujay is related to subcluster A1 phages, and Luchador represents a new subcluster, A14.
