Isolation and characterization of a novel indigenous intestinal N4-related coliphage vB_EcoP_G7C.

Lytic coliphage vB_EcoP_G7C and several other highly related isolates were obtained repeatedly from the samples of horse feces held in the same stable thus representing a component of the normal indigenous intestinal communities in this population of animals. The genome of G7C consists of 71,759 bp with terminal repeats of about 1160 bp, yielding approximately 73 kbp packed DNA size. Seventy-eight potential open reading frames, most of them unique to N4-like viruses, were identified and annotated. The overall layout of functional gene groups was close to that of the original N4 phage, with some important changes in late gene area including new tail fiber proteins containing hydrolytic domains. Structural proteome analysis confirmed all the predicted subunits of the viral particle. Unlike N4 itself, phage G7C did not exhibit a lysis-inhibited phenotype.