YeO3-12 is a T3-related lytic bacteriophage of Yersinia enterocolitica serotype O:3. The nucleotide sequence of the 39,600-bp linear double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) genome was determined. The phage genome has direct terminal repeats of 232 bp, a GC content of 50.6%, and 54 putative genes, which are all transcribed from the same DNA strand. Functions were assigned to 30 genes based on the similarity of the predicted products to known proteins. A striking feature of the YeO3-12 genome is its extensive similarity to the coliphage T3 and T7 genomes; most of the predicted YeO3-12 gene products were >70% identical to those of T3, and the overall organizations of the genomes were similar. In addition to an identical promoter specificity, YeO3-12 shares several common features with T3, nonsubjectibility to F exclusion and growth on Shigella sonnei D 2 371-48 (M. Pajunen, S. Kiljunen, and M. Skurnik, J. Bacteriol. 182:5114-5120, 2000). These findings indicate that YeO3-12 is a T3-like phage that has adapted to Y. enterocolitica O:3 or vice versa. This is the first dsDNA yersiniophage genome sequence to be reported.Yersinia enterocolitica is a gram-negative species which has ϳ70 serotypes, some of which are pathogenic to humans. The major pathogens in Europe, Canada, Japan, and South Africa belong to serotypes O:3 and O:9, and those in the United States belong to serotype O:8 (10) The main reservoir in nature for Y. enterocolitica is pigs (13), and infection usually occurs by ingestion of contaminated foodstuffs. Several yersiniophages have been described in the literature, but only a few have been characterized in detail. In our laboratory, a number of Yersinia-specific bacteriophages have been isolated, all originating from the raw incoming sewage of the Turku, Finland, city sewage treatment plant, and they have been used as genetic tools (44). One phage, YeO3-12, was isolated as specific to Y. enterocolitica serotype O:3 (YeO3). It infects the Escherichia coli C600 strain expressing the cloned O-antigen of YeO3, and spontaneous phage-resistant YeO3 strains were missing the O-antigen, thus indicating that Oantigen is the phage receptor (1, 2). The serotype O:3 specificity makes the YeO3-12 a potential biotechnological tool, and therefore we have initiated a detailed characterization; its biological and physical properties were reported previously (35). The dimensions of the icosahedral virion are ϳ57 nm in diameter for the head and 15 by 8 nm for the tail, and thus YeO3-12 belongs to the family Podoviridae. Based on an N-terminal sequence analysis of the major capsid protein and on its host requirements, nonsubjectibility to F exclusion, and growth on Shigella sonnei D 2 371-48, it was concluded that YeO3-12 belongs to the T7 group and that it is the first described close relative of bacteriophage T3.The T7 group comprises about 60 phages that have been divided into three subgroups on the basis of the promoter specificity of the phage-encoded RNA polymerase (RNAP).Bacteriophage T3 is the only member of one subgroup; BA14, B...
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