Genome and Ecology of a Novel Podovirus, ZP6, Representing a New Viral Genus, .

is a ubiquitous, abundant, copiotrophic and phytoplankton-associated marine member of the with a range extending from tropical waters to polar regions and including hadal zones. Here, we describe a novel phage, ZP6, that was isolated from surface coastal waters of Qingdao, China. ZP6 contains a linear, double-stranded, 38,080-bp DNA molecule with 50.1% G+C content and 47 putative open reading frames (ORFs). Three auxiliary metabolic genes were identified, encoding metal-dependent phosphohydrolase, diaminopurine synthetase, and nucleotide pyrophosphohydrolase. The first two ORFs facilitate the replacement of adenine (A) by diaminopurine (Z) in phage genomes and help phages to evade attack from host restriction enzymes. The nucleotide pyrophosphohydrolase enables the host cells to stop programmed cell death and improves the survival rate of the host in a nutrient-depleted environment. Phylogenetic analysis based on the amino acid sequences of whole genomes and comparative genomic analysis revealed that ZP6 is most closely related to but with low similarity (shared genes, <30%, and average nucleotide sequence identity, <65%); it is distinct from other bacteriophages. Together, these results suggest that ZP6 could represent a novel viral genus, here named . Combining its ability to infect , its harboring of a diaminopurine genome-biosynthetic system, and its representativeness of an understudied viral group, ZP6 could be an important and novel model system for marine virus research. is an important symbiotic bacterium of phytoplankton, but research on its bacteriophages is still at an elementary level. Our isolation and genome characterization of a novel podovirus, ZP6, identified a new viral genus of podovirus, namely, . The ZP6 genome, with a diaminopurine genome-biosynthetic system, is different from those of other isolated phages and will bring new impetus to the development of virus classification and provide important insights into novel viral sequences from metagenomic data sets.