Temperature Sensitive Mutation in the 38 kDa Minor Structural Protein Gene of Phage MB78 Interferes with Phage Morphogenesis

Evolution of mosaically related tailed bacteriophage genomes seen through the lens of phage P22 virion assembly

The mosaic composition of the genomes of dsDNA tailed bacteriophages (Caudovirales) is well known. Observations of this mosaicism have generally come from comparisons of small numbers of often rather distantly related phages, and little is known about the frequency or detailed nature of the processes that generate this kind of diversity. Here we review and examine the mosaicism within fifty-seven clusters of virion assembly genes from bacteriophage P22 and its "close" relatives. We compare these orthologous gene clusters, discuss their surprising diversity and document horizontal exchange of genetic information between subgroups of the P22-like phages as well as between these phages and other phage types. We also point out apparent restrictions in the locations of mosaic sequence boundaries in this gene cluster. The relatively large sample size and the fact that phage P22 virion structure and assembly are exceptionally well understood make the conclusions especially informative and convincing.

The genome of bacteriophage K1F, a T7-like phage that has acquired the ability to replicate on K1 strains of Escherichia coli

Bacteriophage K1F specifically infects Escherichia coli strains that produce the K1 polysaccharide capsule. Like several other K1 capsule-specific phages, K1F encodes an endo-neuraminidase (endosialidase) that is part of the tail structure which allows the phage to recognize and degrade the polysaccharide capsule. The complete nucleotide sequence of the K1F genome reveals that it is closely related to bacteriophage T7 in both genome organization and sequence similarity. The most striking difference between the two phages is that K1F encodes the endosialidase in the analogous position to the T7 tail fiber gene. This is in contrast with bacteriophage K1-5, another K1-specific phage, which encodes a very similar endosialidase which is part of a tail gene "module" at the end of the phage genome. It appears that diverse phages have acquired endosialidase genes by horizontal gene transfer and that these genes or gene products have adapted to different genome and virion architectures.