Ely Bert, Hils Michael, Clarke Aaron, Albert Maegan, Holness Nadia, Lenski Jacob, Mohammadi Tannaz
Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
Viruses. 2024 Apr 20;16(4):641. doi: 10.3390/v16040641.
Previous studies have identified diverse bacteriophages that infect strain CB15 ranging from small RNA phages to four genera of jumbo phages. In this study, we focus on 20 bacteriophages whose genomes range from 40 to 60 kb in length. Genome comparisons indicated that these diverse phages represent six phage genera and one additional genus that includes both and phages. Within species, comparisons revealed that both single base changes and inserted or deleted genetic material cause the genomes of closely related phages to diverge. Among genera, the basic gene order and the orientation of key genes were retained with most of the observed variation occurring at ends of the genomes. We hypothesize that the nucleotide sequences of the ends of these phage genomes are less important than the need to maintain the size of the genome and the stability of the corresponding mRNAs.
先前的研究已经鉴定出多种感染CB15菌株的噬菌体，从小RNA噬菌体到四个属的巨型噬菌体。在本研究中，我们聚焦于20种噬菌体，其基因组长度在40至60 kb之间。基因组比较表明，这些不同的噬菌体代表六个噬菌体属以及另外一个同时包含烈性和温和噬菌体的属。在种内，比较显示单碱基变化以及插入或缺失的遗传物质都会导致亲缘关系密切的噬菌体基因组发生分化。在属间，基本的基因顺序和关键基因的方向得以保留，观察到的大多数变异发生在基因组的末端。我们推测，这些噬菌体基因组末端的核苷酸序列不如维持基因组大小和相应mRNA稳定性的需求重要。
