A suggested new bacteriophage genus: “Viunalikevirus”

Abstract

We suggest a bacteriophage genus, “Viunalikevirus”, as a new genus within the family Myoviridae . To date, this genus includes seven sequenced members: Salmonella phages ViI, SFP10 and ΦSH19; Escherichia phages CBA120 and PhaxI; Shigella phage phiSboM-AG3; and Dickeya phage LIMEstone1. Their shared myovirus morphology, with comparable head sizes and tail dimensions, and genome organization are considered distinguishing features. They appear to have conserved regulatory sequences, a horizontally acquired tRNA set and the probable substitution of an alternate base for thymine in the DNA. A close examination of the tail spike region in the DNA revealed four distinct tail spike proteins, an arrangement which might lead to the umbrella-like structures of the tails visible on electron micrographs. These properties set the suggested genus apart from the recently ratified subfamily Tevenvirinae , although a significant evolutionary relationship can be observed. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00705-012-1360-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Bacteriophage ϕMAM1, a Viunalikevirus, Is a Broad-Host-Range, High-Efficiency Generalized Transducer That Infects Environmental and Clinical Isolates of the Enterobacterial Genera Serratia and Kluyvera

“…Thus, the amino acid sequences of a structural protein (major capsid protein) and a nonstructural protein (DNA polymerase) were chosen to perform phylogenetic analyses. Previously, major capsid proteins and DNA polymerase were often used as phylogenetic markers (26,34,41). As expected from the phage morphology and the genomic comparison analyses, the phylogeny revealed that MAM1 is closely related to ViI-like phages (see Fig.…”

“…Most of the sequenced ViI-like phages encode four tail spike proteins (26), and the presence of these TSPs has been confirmed by mass spectrometry analyses in Vi01 (32) and LIMEstone1 (11). The MAM1 genome also encodes four putative TSPs, three of which (MAM_031, MAM_034, MAM_037) contain a pectate lyase domain (see Table SA2 in the supplemental material).…”

“…Genome comparison analyses were performed by employing the Artemis comparison tool and EMBOSS Stretcher (European Bioinformatics Institute). The genomic organization and annotation of the seven previously reported ViI-like enterobacterial bacteriophages (26) were used to determine the location of ORF1 in MAM1. The CGView comparison tool (27) was employed to visualize the MAM1 genome and to generate Fig.…”

“…All these ViI-like enterobacterial bacteriophages have recently been described to be members of a newly proposed genus within the Myoviridae family, Viunalikevirus (26). The adsorption organelle in Viunalikevirus members shows two conformations consisting of prongs and umbrella-like filaments with rounded tips, both of which are associated with the baseplate (26). Both conformations were observed in MAM1 (Fig.…”

“…Morphologically, MAM1 is very similar to Salmonella phages Vi01 (32), SH19 (33), and SFP10 (34), Shigella phage SboM-AG3 (35), E. coli phages CBA120 (36) and PhaxI (37), and Dickeya phage LIMEstone1 (11). All these ViI-like enterobacterial bacteriophages have recently been described to be members of a newly proposed genus within the Myoviridae family, Viunalikevirus (26). The adsorption organelle in Viunalikevirus members shows two conformations consisting of prongs and umbrella-like filaments with rounded tips, both of which are associated with the baseplate (26).…”