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Zhu Y, Yan S, Chen X, Li Y, Xie S. Thallium spill shifts the structural and functional characteristics of viral communities with different lifestyles in river sediments. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 947:174531. [PMID: 38971241 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174531] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2024] [Revised: 06/10/2024] [Accepted: 07/03/2024] [Indexed: 07/08/2024]
Abstract
Thallium (Tl), a highly toxic heavy metal, can affect microbial community, while little is known about its effect on viral community. The present study investigated the variation of viral communities, as well as their interactions with microbial hosts under Tl stress. Tl in sediments significantly altered the composition and diversity of the viral communities, but showed no significant links with the prokaryotic communities, which may reveal a potential discrepancy in the sensitivity of the viral and prokaryotic communities to heavy metal stress. Auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) involved in denitrification, methane oxidation and organic sulfur transformation were enriched at T1-contaminated sites, while the abundance of AMGs related to methanogenesis and sulfate reduction were higher at pristine sites. Specially, the enrichment of AMGs involved in assimilatory sulfate reduction in Tl-contaminated sites could possibly reduce Tl bioavailability by enhancing the microbially-driven sulfur cycling to generate sulfides that could be complexed with Tl. Moreover, there was a significantly positive correlation between virus-carrying metal resistant genes and the sedimentary Tl concentration, implying that Tl contamination might enhance the metal resistant potential of the viruses. Serving as the functional gene reservoir, the response of viral AMGs to Tl stress could represent a potential pathway for microorganisms to be adapted to the metal-polluted environments. Our study provided novel insights into the impact of Tl spill on viral communities, shedding light on functional characteristics and the links of virus-host interaction with Tl level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Zhu
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Shuang Yan
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Xiuli Chen
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Yangyang Li
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Shuguang Xie
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
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2
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Mäkelä K, Laanto E, Sundberg LR. Determinants in the phage life cycle: The dynamic nature of ssDNA phage FLiP and host interactions under varying environmental conditions and growth phases. Environ Microbiol 2024; 26:e16670. [PMID: 38952172 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16670] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2023] [Accepted: 05/24/2024] [Indexed: 07/03/2024]
Abstract
The influence of environmental factors on the interactions between phages and bacteria, particularly single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) phages, has been largely unexplored. In this study, we used Finnlakevirus FLiP, the first known ssDNA phage species with a lipid membrane, as our model phage. We examined the infectivity of FLiP with three Flavobacterium host strains, B330, B167 and B114. We discovered that FLiP infection is contingent on the host strain and conditions such as temperature and bacterial growth phase. FLiP can infect its hosts across a wide temperature range, but optimal phage replication varies with each host. We uncovered some unique aspects of phage infectivity: FLiP has limited infectivity in liquid-suspended cells, but it improves when cells are surface-attached. Moreover, FLiP infects stationary phase B167 and B114 cells more rapidly and efficiently than exponentially growing cells, a pattern not observed with the B330 host. We also present the first experimental evidence of endolysin function in ssDNA phages. The activity of FLiP's lytic enzymes was found to be condition-dependent. Our findings underscore the importance of studying phage ecology in contexts that are relevant to the environment, as both the host and the surrounding conditions can significantly alter the outcome of phage-host interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kati Mäkelä
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science and Nanoscience Center, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Elina Laanto
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science and Nanoscience Center, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Lotta-Riina Sundberg
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science and Nanoscience Center, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
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3
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Bozidis P, Markou E, Gouni A, Gartzonika K. Does Phage Therapy Need a Pan-Phage? Pathogens 2024; 13:522. [PMID: 38921819 PMCID: PMC11206709 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens13060522] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2024] [Revised: 06/13/2024] [Accepted: 06/17/2024] [Indexed: 06/27/2024] Open
Abstract
The emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria is undoubtedly one of the most serious global health threats. One response to this threat that has been gaining momentum over the past decade is 'phage therapy'. According to this, lytic bacteriophages are used for the treatment of bacterial infections, either alone or in combination with antimicrobial agents. However, to ensure the efficacy and broad applicability of phage therapy, several challenges must be overcome. These challenges encompass the development of methods and strategies for the host range manipulation and bypass of the resistance mechanisms developed by pathogenic bacteria, as has been the case since the advent of antibiotics. As our knowledge and understanding of the interactions between phages and their hosts evolves, the key issue is to define the host range for each application. In this article, we discuss the factors that affect host range and how this determines the classification of phages into different categories of action. For each host range group, recent representative examples are provided, together with suggestions on how the different groups can be used to combat certain types of bacterial infections. The available methodologies for host range expansion, either through sequential adaptation to a new pathogen or through genetic engineering techniques, are also reviewed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petros Bozidis
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece;
- Department of Microbiology, University Hospital of Ioannina, 45500 Ioannina, Greece; (E.M.); (A.G.)
| | - Eleftheria Markou
- Department of Microbiology, University Hospital of Ioannina, 45500 Ioannina, Greece; (E.M.); (A.G.)
| | - Athanasia Gouni
- Department of Microbiology, University Hospital of Ioannina, 45500 Ioannina, Greece; (E.M.); (A.G.)
| | - Konstantina Gartzonika
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece;
- Department of Microbiology, University Hospital of Ioannina, 45500 Ioannina, Greece; (E.M.); (A.G.)
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4
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Wu Q, An N, Fang Z, Li S, Xiang L, Liu Q, Tan L, Weng Q. Characteristics and whole-genome analysis of a novel Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato bacteriophage D6 isolated from a karst cave. Virus Genes 2024; 60:295-308. [PMID: 38594490 PMCID: PMC11139720 DOI: 10.1007/s11262-024-02064-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2023] [Accepted: 03/01/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
Pseudomonas syringae is a gram-negative plant pathogen that infects plants such as tomato and poses a threat to global crop production. In this study, a novel lytic phage infecting P. syringae pv. tomato DC3000, named phage D6, was isolated and characterized from sediments in a karst cave. The latent period of phage D6 was found to be 60 min, with a burst size of 16 plaque-forming units per cell. Phage D6 was stable at temperatures between 4 and 40 °C but lost infectivity when heated to 70 °C. Its infectivity was unaffected at pH 6-10 but became inactivated at pH ≤ 5 or ≥ 12. The genome of phage D6 is a linear double-stranded DNA of 307,402 bp with a G + C content of 48.43%. There is a codon preference between phage D6 and its host, and the translation of phage D6 gene may not be entirely dependent on the tRNA library provided by the host. A total of 410 open reading frames (ORFs) and 14 tRNAs were predicted in its genome, with 92 ORFs encoding proteins with predicted functions. Phage D6 showed low genomic similarity to known phage genomes in the GenBank and Viral sequence databases. Genomic and phylogenetic analyses revealed that phage D6 is a novel phage. The tomato plants were first injected with phage D6, and subsequently with Pst DC3000, using the foliar spraying and root drenching inoculum approach. Results obtained after 14 days indicated that phage D6 inoculation decreased P. syringae-induced symptoms in tomato leaves and inhibited the pathogen's growth in the leaves. The amount of Pst DC3000 was reduced by 150- and 263-fold, respectively. In conclusion, the lytic phage D6 identified in this study belongs to a novel phage within the Caudoviricetes class and has potential for use in biological control of plant diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qingshan Wu
- School of Life Sciences, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, 550025, People's Republic of China
| | - Ni An
- School of Life Sciences, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, 550025, People's Republic of China
| | - Zheng Fang
- School of Life Sciences, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, 550025, People's Republic of China
| | - Shixia Li
- School of Life Sciences, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, 550025, People's Republic of China
| | - Lan Xiang
- Qiannan Normal College for Nationalities, Duyun, 558000, People's Republic of China
| | - Qiuping Liu
- School of Life Sciences, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, 550025, People's Republic of China
| | - Leitao Tan
- School of Life Sciences, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, 550025, People's Republic of China
| | - Qingbei Weng
- School of Life Sciences, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, 550025, People's Republic of China.
- Qiannan Normal College for Nationalities, Duyun, 558000, People's Republic of China.
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5
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Barcia-Cruz R, Balboa S, Lema A, Romalde JL. Comparative genomics of Vibrio toranzoniae strains. RESEARCH SQUARE 2024:rs.3.rs-4360386. [PMID: 38826277 PMCID: PMC11142368 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4360386/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2024]
Abstract
Vibrio toranzoniae is a marine bacterium belonging to the Splendidus clade, originally isolated from healthy clams in Galicia (NW Spain). Its isolation from different hosts and seawater indicated two lifestyles and wide geographical distribution. The aim of the present study was to determine the differences at genome level among strains, as well as to determine their phylogeny. For this purpose, whole genomes were sequenced by different technologies and the resulting sequences corrected. Genomes were annotated and compared with different online tools. Furthermore, the study of core and pan genome was examined, and the phylogeny was inferred. The content of the core genome ranged from 2,953 to 2,766 genes and that of the pangenome from 6,278 to 6,132, depending on the tool used. The comparison revealed that although the strains shared certain homology, with DDH values ranging from 77.10 to 82.30 and values of OrthoANI higher than 97%,notable differences were found related to motility, capsule synthesis, iron acquisition system or mobile genetic elements. The phylogenetic analysis of the core genome did not reveal a differentiation of the strains according to their lifestyle, but that of the pangenome pointed out certain geographical isolation in the same growing area. The study led to a reclassification of some isolates formerly described as V. toranzoniae and manifested the importance of cured deposited sequences to proper phylogenetic assignment.
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Quinones-Olvera N, Owen SV, McCully LM, Marin MG, Rand EA, Fan AC, Martins Dosumu OJ, Paul K, Sanchez Castaño CE, Petherbridge R, Paull JS, Baym M. Diverse and abundant phages exploit conjugative plasmids. Nat Commun 2024; 15:3197. [PMID: 38609370 PMCID: PMC11015023 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47416-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2024] [Accepted: 03/28/2024] [Indexed: 04/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Phages exert profound evolutionary pressure on bacteria by interacting with receptors on the cell surface to initiate infection. While the majority of phages use chromosomally encoded cell surface structures as receptors, plasmid-dependent phages exploit plasmid-encoded conjugation proteins, making their host range dependent on horizontal transfer of the plasmid. Despite their unique biology and biotechnological significance, only a small number of plasmid-dependent phages have been characterized. Here we systematically search for new plasmid-dependent phages targeting IncP and IncF plasmids using a targeted discovery platform, and find that they are common and abundant in wastewater, and largely unexplored in terms of their genetic diversity. Plasmid-dependent phages are enriched in non-canonical types of phages, and all but one of the 65 phages we isolated were non-tailed, and members of the lipid-containing tectiviruses, ssDNA filamentous phages or ssRNA phages. We show that plasmid-dependent tectiviruses exhibit profound differences in their host range which is associated with variation in the phage holin protein. Despite their relatively high abundance in wastewater, plasmid-dependent tectiviruses are missed by metaviromic analyses, underscoring the continued importance of culture-based phage discovery. Finally, we identify a tailed phage dependent on the IncF plasmid, and find related structural genes in phages that use the orthogonal type 4 pilus as a receptor, highlighting the evolutionarily promiscuous use of these distinct contractile structures by multiple groups of phages. Taken together, these results indicate plasmid-dependent phages play an under-appreciated evolutionary role in constraining horizontal gene transfer via conjugative plasmids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Quinones-Olvera
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Siân V Owen
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
- Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
| | - Lucy M McCully
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Maximillian G Marin
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Eleanor A Rand
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Alice C Fan
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
- Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Oluremi J Martins Dosumu
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Roxbury Community College, Boston, MA, 02120, USA
| | - Kay Paul
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Roxbury Community College, Boston, MA, 02120, USA
| | - Cleotilde E Sanchez Castaño
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Roxbury Community College, Boston, MA, 02120, USA
| | - Rachel Petherbridge
- Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Jillian S Paull
- Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
| | - Michael Baym
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
- Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA.
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7
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Lomeli‐Ortega CO, Balcázar JL. Why tRNA acquisition could be relevant to bacteriophages? Microb Biotechnol 2024; 17:e14464. [PMID: 38635123 PMCID: PMC11025619 DOI: 10.1111/1751-7915.14464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2023] [Revised: 02/09/2024] [Accepted: 03/21/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
In this opinion, we discuss the role of tRNAs in phage biology and their importance in DNA replication and phage-host interactions. Phages are a diverse group of obligate bacterial viruses that possess genomes with a wide range of sizes. Among them, we find phages with few genes that depend entirely on their host's translational machinery for replication. However, some phages carry genes for all replication steps and even contain genes for their own translational synthesis. In these cases, the integration of tRNA genes in their genomes is not completely understood, generating different theories about their presence and function during the replication cycle. Although different studies have attempted to elucidate their role, additional studies are needed to clarify the presence and significance of tRNA genes in phages. Moreover, we highlight the importance of tRNA genes in phages from both ecological and therapeutic perspectives.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - José Luis Balcázar
- Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA‐CERCA)GironaSpain
- University of GironaGironaSpain
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8
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Huang D, Xia R, Chen C, Liao J, Chen L, Wang D, Alvarez PJJ, Yu P. Adaptive strategies and ecological roles of phages in habitats under physicochemical stress. Trends Microbiol 2024:S0966-842X(24)00042-8. [PMID: 38433027 DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2024.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2023] [Revised: 02/01/2024] [Accepted: 02/02/2024] [Indexed: 03/05/2024]
Abstract
Bacteriophages (phages) play a vital role in ecosystem functions by influencing the composition, genetic exchange, metabolism, and environmental adaptation of microbial communities. With recent advances in sequencing technologies and bioinformatics, our understanding of the ecology and evolution of phages in stressful environments has substantially expanded. Here, we review the impact of physicochemical environmental stress on the physiological state and community dynamics of phages, the adaptive strategies that phages employ to cope with environmental stress, and the ecological effects of phage-host interactions in stressful environments. Specifically, we highlight the contributions of phages to the adaptive evolution and functioning of microbiomes and suggest that phages and their hosts can maintain a mutualistic relationship in response to environmental stress. In addition, we discuss the ecological consequences caused by phages in stressful environments, encompassing biogeochemical cycling. Overall, this review advances an understanding of phage ecology in stressful environments, which could inform phage-based strategies to improve microbiome performance and ecosystem resilience and resistance in natural and engineering systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Huang
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Rong Xia
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Chengyi Chen
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Jingqiu Liao
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
| | - Linxing Chen
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Dongsheng Wang
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Pedro J J Alvarez
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA
| | - Pingfeng Yu
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiashan, 314100, China.
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9
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López-Sánchez R, Rebollar EA, Gutiérrez-Ríos RM, Garciarrubio A, Juarez K, Segovia L. Metagenomic analysis of carbohydrate-active enzymes and their contribution to marine sediment biodiversity. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 2024; 40:95. [PMID: 38349445 PMCID: PMC10864421 DOI: 10.1007/s11274-024-03884-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 02/15/2024]
Abstract
Marine sediments constitute the world's most substantial long-term carbon repository. The microorganisms dwelling in these sediments mediate the transformation of fixed oceanic carbon, but their contribution to the carbon cycle is not fully understood. Previous culture-independent investigations into sedimentary microorganisms have underscored the significance of carbohydrates in the carbon cycle. In this study, we employ a metagenomic methodology to investigate the distribution and abundance of carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) in 37 marine sediments sites. These sediments exhibit varying oxygen availability and were isolated in diverse regions worldwide. Our comparative analysis is based on the metabolic potential for oxygen utilisation, derived from genes present in both oxic and anoxic environments. We found that extracellular CAZyme modules targeting the degradation of plant and algal detritus, necromass, and host glycans were abundant across all metagenomic samples. The analysis of these results indicates that the oxic/anoxic conditions not only influence the taxonomic composition of the microbial communities, but also affect the occurrence of CAZyme modules involved in the transformation of necromass, algae and plant detritus. To gain insight into the sediment microbial taxa, we reconstructed metagenome assembled genomes (MAG) and examined the presence of primary extracellular carbohydrate active enzyme (CAZyme) modules. Our findings reveal that the primary CAZyme modules and the CAZyme gene clusters discovered in our metagenomes were prevalent in the Bacteroidia, Gammaproteobacteria, and Alphaproteobacteria classes. We compared those MAGs to organisms from the same taxonomic classes found in soil, and we found that they were similar in its CAZyme repertoire, but the soil MAG contained a more abundant and diverse CAZyme content. Furthermore, the data indicate that abundant classes in our metagenomic samples, namely Alphaproteobacteria, Bacteroidia and Gammaproteobacteria, play a pivotal role in carbohydrate transformation within the initial few metres of the sediments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafael López-Sánchez
- Departamento de Ingeniería Celular y Biocatálisis, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Eria A Rebollar
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Rosa María Gutiérrez-Ríos
- Departamento de Microbiología Molecular, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Alejandro Garciarrubio
- Departamento de Ingeniería Celular y Biocatálisis, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Katy Juarez
- Departamento de Ingeniería Celular y Biocatálisis, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Lorenzo Segovia
- Departamento de Ingeniería Celular y Biocatálisis, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.
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10
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Nweze JE, Schweichhart JS, Angel R. Viral communities in millipede guts: Insights into the diversity and potential role in modulating the microbiome. Environ Microbiol 2024; 26:e16586. [PMID: 38356108 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2023] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024]
Abstract
Millipedes are important detritivores harbouring a diverse microbiome. Previous research focused on bacterial and archaeal diversity, while the virome remained neglected. We elucidated the DNA and RNA viral diversity in the hindguts of two model millipede species with distinct microbiomes: the tropical Epibolus pulchripes (methanogenic, dominated by Bacillota) and the temperate Glomeris connexa (non-methanogenic, dominated by Pseudomonadota). Based on metagenomic and metatranscriptomic assembled viral genomes, the viral communities differed markedly and preferentially infected the most abundant prokaryotic taxa. The majority of DNA viruses were Caudoviricetes (dsDNA), Cirlivirales (ssDNA) and Microviridae (ssDNA), while RNA viruses consisted of Leviviricetes (ssRNA), Potyviridae (ssRNA) and Eukaryotic viruses. A high abundance of subtypes I-C, I-B and II-C CRISPR-Cas systems was found, primarily from Pseudomonadota, Bacteroidota and Bacillota. In addition, auxiliary metabolic genes that modulate chitin degradation, vitamins and amino acid biosynthesis and sulphur metabolism were also detected. Lastly, we found low virus-to-microbe-ratios and a prevalence of lysogenic viruses, supporting a Piggyback-the-Winner dynamic in both hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julius Eyiuche Nweze
- Institute of Soil Biology and Biogeochemistry, Biology Centre CAS, České Budějovice, Czechia
- Department of Ecosystem Biology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, České Budějovice, Czechia
| | - Johannes Sergej Schweichhart
- Institute of Soil Biology and Biogeochemistry, Biology Centre CAS, České Budějovice, Czechia
- Department of Ecosystem Biology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, České Budějovice, Czechia
| | - Roey Angel
- Institute of Soil Biology and Biogeochemistry, Biology Centre CAS, České Budějovice, Czechia
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11
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Baker JL, Mark Welch JL, Kauffman KM, McLean JS, He X. The oral microbiome: diversity, biogeography and human health. Nat Rev Microbiol 2024; 22:89-104. [PMID: 37700024 PMCID: PMC11084736 DOI: 10.1038/s41579-023-00963-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/04/2023] [Indexed: 09/14/2023]
Abstract
The human oral microbiota is highly diverse and has a complex ecology, comprising bacteria, microeukaryotes, archaea and viruses. These communities have elaborate and highly structured biogeography that shapes metabolic exchange on a local scale and results from the diverse microenvironments present in the oral cavity. The oral microbiota also interfaces with the immune system of the human host and has an important role in not only the health of the oral cavity but also systemic health. In this Review, we highlight recent advances including novel insights into the biogeography of several oral niches at the species level, as well as the ecological role of candidate phyla radiation bacteria and non-bacterial members of the oral microbiome. In addition, we summarize the relationship between the oral microbiota and the pathology of oral diseases and systemic diseases. Together, these advances move the field towards a more holistic understanding of the oral microbiota and its role in health, which in turn opens the door to the study of novel preventive and therapeutic strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathon L Baker
- Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
- J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
- UC San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Jessica L Mark Welch
- The Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, USA
| | | | | | - Xuesong He
- The Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
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12
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Ahmed AAQ, McKay TJM. Environmental and ecological importance of bacterial extracellular vesicles (BEVs). THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 907:168098. [PMID: 37884154 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2023] [Revised: 09/24/2023] [Accepted: 10/22/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023]
Abstract
Extracellular vesicles are unique structures released by the cells of all life forms. Bacterial extracellular vesicles (BEVs) were found in various ecosystems and natural habitats. They are associated with bacterial-bacterial interactions as well as host-bacterial interactions in the environment. Moreover, BEVs facilitate bacterial adaptation to a variety of environmental conditions. BEVs were found to be abundant in the environment, and therefore they can regulate a broad range of environmental processes. In the environment, BEVs can serve as tools for cell-to-cell interaction, secreting mechanism of unwanted materials, transportation, genetic materials exchange and storage, defense and protection, growth support, electron transfer, and cell-surface interplay regulation. Thus, BEVs have a great potential to be used in a variety of environmental applications such as serving as bioremediating reagents for environmental disaster mitigation as well as removing problematic biofilms and waste treatment. This research area needs to be investigated further to disclose the full environmental and ecological importance of BEVs as well as to investigate how to harness BEVs as effective tools in a variety of environmental applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abeer Ahmed Qaed Ahmed
- Department of Environmental Sciences, School of Ecological and Human Sustainability, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa, P.O. Box 392, Florida, Johannesburg 1710, South Africa.
| | - Tracey Jill Morton McKay
- Department of Environmental Sciences, School of Ecological and Human Sustainability, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa, P.O. Box 392, Florida, Johannesburg 1710, South Africa
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13
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Sun X, Jiang H, Zhang S. Diversities and interactions of phages and bacteria in deep-sea sediments as revealed by metagenomics. Front Microbiol 2024; 14:1337146. [PMID: 38260883 PMCID: PMC10801174 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1337146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Phages are found virtually everywhere, even in extreme environments, and are extremely diverse both in their virion structures and in their genomic content. They are thought to shape the taxonomic and functional composition of microbial communities as well as their stability. A number of studies on laboratory culture and viral metagenomic research provide deeper insights into the abundance, diversity, distribution, and interaction with hosts of phages across a wide range of ecosystems. Although most of these studies focus on easily accessible samples, such as soils, lakes, and shallow oceans, little is known about bathypelagic phages. In this study, through analyzing the 16S rRNA sequencing and viral metagenomic sequencing data of 25 samples collected from five different bathypelagic ecosystems, we detected a high diversity of bacteria and phages, particularly in the cold seep and hydrothermal vent ecosystems, which have stable chemical energy. The relative abundance of phages in these ecosystems was higher than in other three abyssal ecosystems. The low phage/host ratios obtained from host prediction were different from shallow ecosystems and indicated the prevalence of prophages, suggesting the complexity of phage-bacteria interactions in abyssal ecosystems. In the correlation analysis, we revealed several phages-bacteria interaction networks of potential ecological relevance. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the interactions between bathypelagic bacteria and their phages.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Siyuan Zhang
- School of Marine Sciences, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
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14
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Koonin EV, Kuhn JH, Dolja VV, Krupovic M. Megataxonomy and global ecology of the virosphere. THE ISME JOURNAL 2024; 18:wrad042. [PMID: 38365236 PMCID: PMC10848233 DOI: 10.1093/ismejo/wrad042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2023] [Revised: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/28/2023] [Indexed: 02/18/2024]
Abstract
Nearly all organisms are hosts to multiple viruses that collectively appear to be the most abundant biological entities in the biosphere. With recent advances in metagenomics and metatranscriptomics, the known diversity of viruses substantially expanded. Comparative analysis of these viruses using advanced computational methods culminated in the reconstruction of the evolution of major groups of viruses and enabled the construction of a virus megataxonomy, which has been formally adopted by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. This comprehensive taxonomy consists of six virus realms, which are aspired to be monophyletic and assembled based on the conservation of hallmark proteins involved in capsid structure formation or genome replication. The viruses in different major taxa substantially differ in host range and accordingly in ecological niches. In this review article, we outline the latest developments in virus megataxonomy and the recent discoveries that will likely lead to reassessment of some major taxa, in particular, split of three of the current six realms into two or more independent realms. We then discuss the correspondence between virus taxonomy and the distribution of viruses among hosts and ecological niches, as well as the abundance of viruses versus cells in different habitats. The distribution of viruses across environments appears to be primarily determined by the host ranges, i.e. the virome is shaped by the composition of the biome in a given habitat, which itself is affected by abiotic factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eugene V Koonin
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20894, United States
| | - Jens H Kuhn
- Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick, Division of Clinical Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Fort Detrick, Frederick, MD 21702, United States
| | - Valerian V Dolja
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, United States
| | - Mart Krupovic
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, Archaeal Virology Unit, 75015 Paris, France
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15
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Ely B, Lenski J, Mohammadi T. Structural and Genomic Diversity of Bacteriophages. Methods Mol Biol 2024; 2738:3-16. [PMID: 37966589 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3549-0_1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2023]
Abstract
Bacteriophage diversity is a relatively unknown frontier that is rapidly being explored, leading to a wealth of new information. New bacteriophages are being discovered at an astounding rate via both phage isolation studies and metagenomic analyses. In addition, a nucleotide sequence-based viral taxonomic system has been developed to better handle this wealth of new information. As a result of these developments, phage scientists are transitioning from knowing that there must be huge numbers of diverse kinds of phage particles in natural environments to identifying the actual abundance and phage diversity that is present in specific environments. This review documents the beginning of this transition, offering a glimpse into the magnitude of change unfolding in the field. It stands as a testament to the expanding frontiers of phage research, illuminating the remarkable progress made in unraveling the intricate world of bacteriophage diversity and advancing our understanding of these enigmatic viral entities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bert Ely
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
| | - Jacob Lenski
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Tannaz Mohammadi
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
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16
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Quinones-Olvera N, Owen SV, McCully LM, Marin MG, Rand EA, Fan AC, Martins Dosumu OJ, Paul K, Sanchez Castaño CE, Petherbridge R, Paull JS, Baym M. Diverse and abundant phages exploit conjugative plasmids. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.03.19.532758. [PMID: 36993299 PMCID: PMC10055259 DOI: 10.1101/2023.03.19.532758] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/31/2023]
Abstract
Phages exert profound evolutionary pressure on bacteria by interacting with receptors on the cell surface to initiate infection. While the majority of phages use chromosomally-encoded cell surface structures as receptors, plasmid-dependent phages exploit plasmid-encoded conjugation proteins, making their host range dependent on horizontal transfer of the plasmid. Despite their unique biology and biotechnological significance, only a small number of plasmid-dependent phages have been characterized. Here we systematically search for new plasmid-dependent phages targeting IncP and IncF plasmids using a targeted discovery platform, and find that they are common and abundant in wastewater, and largely unexplored in terms of their genetic diversity. Plasmid-dependent phages are enriched in non-canonical types of phages, and all but one of the 64 phages we isolated were non-tailed, and members of the lipid-containing tectiviruses, ssDNA filamentous phages or ssRNA phages. We show that plasmid-dependent tectiviruses exhibit profound differences in their host range which is associated with variation in the phage holin protein. Despite their relatively high abundance in wastewater, plasmid-dependent tectiviruses are missed by metaviromic analyses, underscoring the continued importance of culture-based phage discovery. Finally, we identify a tailed phage dependent on the IncF plasmid, and find related structural genes in phages that use the orthogonal type 4 pilus as a receptor, highlighting the promiscuous use of these distinct contractile structures by multiple groups of phages. Taken together, these results indicate plasmid-dependent phages play an under-appreciated evolutionary role in constraining horizontal gene transfer via conjugative plasmids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Quinones-Olvera
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Siân V. Owen
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Lucy M. McCully
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Maximillian G. Marin
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Eleanor A. Rand
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Alice C. Fan
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Oluremi J. Martins Dosumu
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Roxbury Community College, Boston, MA, 02120, USA
| | - Kay Paul
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Roxbury Community College, Boston, MA, 02120, USA
| | - Cleotilde E. Sanchez Castaño
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Roxbury Community College, Boston, MA, 02120, USA
| | - Rachel Petherbridge
- Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Jillian S. Paull
- Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Michael Baym
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
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17
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Bárdy P, MacDonald CI, Pantůček R, Antson AA, Fogg PC. Jorvik: A membrane-containing phage that will likely found a new family within Vinavirales. iScience 2023; 26:108104. [PMID: 37867962 PMCID: PMC10589892 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2023] [Revised: 07/23/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 10/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Although membrane-containing dsDNA bacterial viruses are some of the most prevalent predators in aquatic environments, we know little about how they function due to their intractability in the laboratory. Here, we have identified and thoroughly characterized a new type of membrane-containing bacteriophage, Jorvik, that infects the freshwater mixotrophic model bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus. Jorvik is extremely virulent, can persist in the host integrated into the RuBisCo operon and encodes two experimentally verified cell wall hydrolases. Jorvik-like prophages are abundant in the genomes of Alphaproteobacteria, are distantly related to known viruses of the class Tectiliviricetes, and we propose they should be classified as a new family. Crucially, we demonstrate how widely used phage manipulation methods should be adjusted to prevent loss of virus infectivity. Our thorough characterization of environmental phage Jorvik provides important experimental insights about phage diversity and interactions in microbial communities that are often unexplored in common metagenomic analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pavol Bárdy
- York Structural Biology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Conor I.W. MacDonald
- York Structural Biology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Roman Pantůček
- Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Alfred A. Antson
- York Structural Biology Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, Wentworth Way, York YO10 5NG, UK
| | - Paul C.M. Fogg
- York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, Wentworth Way, York YO10 5NG, UK
- Biology Department, University of York, Wentworth Way, York YO10 5DD, UK
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18
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López-García P, Gutiérrez-Preciado A, Krupovic M, Ciobanu M, Deschamps P, Jardillier L, López-Pérez M, Rodríguez-Valera F, Moreira D. Metagenome-derived virus-microbe ratios across ecosystems. THE ISME JOURNAL 2023; 17:1552-1563. [PMID: 37169871 PMCID: PMC10504350 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-023-01431-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2023] [Revised: 04/20/2023] [Accepted: 05/03/2023] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
It is generally assumed that viruses outnumber cells on Earth by at least tenfold. Virus-to-microbe ratios (VMR) are largely based on counts of fluorescently labelled virus-like particles. However, these exclude intracellular viruses and potentially include false positives (DNA-containing vesicles, gene-transfer agents, unspecifically stained inert particles). Here, we develop a metagenome-based VMR estimate (mVRM) that accounts for DNA viruses across all stages of their replication cycles (virion, intracellular lytic and lysogenic) by using normalised RPKM (reads per kilobase of gene sequence per million of mapped metagenome reads) counts of the major capsid protein (MCP) genes and cellular universal single-copy genes (USCGs) as proxies for virus and cell counts, respectively. After benchmarking this strategy using mock metagenomes with increasing VMR, we inferred mVMR across different biomes. To properly estimate mVMR in aquatic ecosystems, we generated metagenomes from co-occurring cellular and viral fractions (>50 kDa-200 µm size-range) in freshwater, seawater and solar saltern ponds (10 metagenomes, 2 control metaviromes). Viruses outnumbered cells in freshwater by ~13 fold and in plankton from marine and saline waters by ~2-4 fold. However, across an additional set of 121 diverse non-aquatic metagenomes including microbial mats, microbialites, soils, freshwater and marine sediments and metazoan-associated microbiomes, viruses, on average, outnumbered cells by barely two-fold. Although viruses likely are the most diverse biological entities on Earth, their global numbers might be closer to those of cells than previously estimated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Purificación López-García
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, AgroParisTech, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
| | - Ana Gutiérrez-Preciado
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, AgroParisTech, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Mart Krupovic
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR6047, Archaeal Virology Unit, Paris, France
| | - Maria Ciobanu
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, AgroParisTech, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Philippe Deschamps
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, AgroParisTech, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Ludwig Jardillier
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, AgroParisTech, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Mario López-Pérez
- Departamento de Producción Vegetal y Microbiología, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Alicante, Spain
| | | | - David Moreira
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, AgroParisTech, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
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19
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Kirchberger PC, Ochman H. Microviruses: A World Beyond phiX174. Annu Rev Virol 2023; 10:99-118. [PMID: 37774127 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-virology-100120-011239] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/01/2023]
Abstract
Two decades of metagenomic analyses have revealed that in many environments, small (∼5 kb), single-stranded DNA phages of the family Microviridae dominate the virome. Although the emblematic microvirus phiX174 is ubiquitous in the laboratory, most other microviruses, particularly those of the gokushovirus and amoyvirus lineages, have proven to be much more elusive. This puzzling lack of representative isolates has hindered insights into microviral biology. Furthermore, the idiosyncratic size and nature of their genomes have resulted in considerable misjudgments of their actual abundance in nature. Fortunately, recent successes in microvirus isolation and improved metagenomic methodologies can now provide us with more accurate appraisals of their abundance, their hosts, and their interactions. The emerging picture is that phiX174 and its relatives are rather rare and atypical microviruses, and that a tremendous diversity of other microviruses is ready for exploration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul C Kirchberger
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA;
| | - Howard Ochman
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
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20
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Barth ZK, Dunham DT, Seed KD. Nuclease genes occupy boundaries of genetic exchange between bacteriophages. NAR Genom Bioinform 2023; 5:lqad076. [PMID: 37636022 PMCID: PMC10448857 DOI: 10.1093/nargab/lqad076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2023] [Revised: 07/13/2023] [Accepted: 08/16/2023] [Indexed: 08/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Homing endonuclease genes (HEGs) are ubiquitous selfish elements that generate targeted double-stranded DNA breaks, facilitating the recombination of the HEG DNA sequence into the break site and contributing to the evolutionary dynamics of HEG-encoding genomes. Bacteriophages (phages) are well-documented to carry HEGs, with the paramount characterization of HEGs being focused on those encoded by coliphage T4. Recently, it has been observed that the highly sampled vibriophage, ICP1, is similarly enriched with HEGs distinct from T4's. Here, we examined the HEGs encoded by ICP1 and diverse phages, proposing HEG-driven mechanisms that contribute to phage evolution. Relative to ICP1 and T4, we found a variable distribution of HEGs across phages, with HEGs frequently encoded proximal to or within essential genes. We identified large regions (> 10kb) of high nucleotide identity flanked by HEGs, deemed HEG islands, which we hypothesize to be mobilized by the activity of flanking HEGs. Finally, we found examples of domain swapping between phage-encoded HEGs and genes encoded by other phages and phage satellites. We anticipate that HEGs have a larger impact on the evolutionary trajectory of phages than previously appreciated and that future work investigating the role of HEGs in phage evolution will continue to highlight these observations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zachary K Barth
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley. 271 Koshland Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Drew T Dunham
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley. 271 Koshland Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Kimberley D Seed
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley. 271 Koshland Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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21
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Roberts SM, Aldis M, Wright ET, Gonzales CB, Lai Z, Weintraub ST, Hardies SC, Serwer P. Siphophage 0105phi7-2 of Bacillus thuringiensis: Novel Propagation, DNA, and Genome-Implied Assembly. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24108941. [PMID: 37240285 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24108941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Revised: 05/09/2023] [Accepted: 05/11/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Diversity of phage propagation, physical properties, and assembly promotes the use of phages in ecological studies and biomedicine. However, observed phage diversity is incomplete. Bacillus thuringiensis siphophage, 0105phi-7-2, first described here, significantly expands known phage diversity, as seen via in-plaque propagation, electron microscopy, whole genome sequencing/annotation, protein mass spectrometry, and native gel electrophoresis (AGE). Average plaque diameter vs. plaque-supporting agarose gel concentration plots reveal unusually steep conversion to large plaques as agarose concentration decreases below 0.2%. These large plaques sometimes have small satellites and are made larger by orthovanadate, an ATPase inhibitor. Phage head-host-cell binding is observed by electron microscopy. We hypothesize that this binding causes plaque size-increase via biofilm evolved, ATP stimulated ride-hitching on motile host cells by temporarily inactive phages. Phage 0105phi7-2 does not propagate in liquid culture. Genomic sequencing/annotation reveals history as temperate phage and distant similarity, in a virion-assembly gene cluster, to prototypical siphophage SPP1 of Bacillus subtilis. Phage 0105phi7-2 is distinct in (1) absence of head-assembly scaffolding via either separate protein or classically sized, head protein-embedded peptide, (2) producing partially condensed, head-expelled DNA, and (3) having a surface relatively poor in AGE-detected net negative charges, which is possibly correlated with observed low murine blood persistence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha M Roberts
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, UT Health, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
| | - Miranda Aldis
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, UT Health, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
| | - Elena T Wright
- Department of Biochemistry and Structural Biology, UT Health, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
| | - Cara B Gonzales
- Department of Comprehensive Dentistry, UT Health, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
| | - Zhao Lai
- Department of Molecular Medicine, UT Health, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
| | - Susan T Weintraub
- Department of Biochemistry and Structural Biology, UT Health, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
| | - Stephen C Hardies
- Department of Biochemistry and Structural Biology, UT Health, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
| | - Philip Serwer
- Department of Biochemistry and Structural Biology, UT Health, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
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22
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Mani I. Phage and phage cocktails formulations. PROGRESS IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND TRANSLATIONAL SCIENCE 2023; 200:159-169. [PMID: 37739554 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pmbts.2023.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/24/2023]
Abstract
Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection is a major global problem and can be life-threatening. Bacteriophages or phages can be substituted choice over traditional antibiotics treatments. Phages are natural obligate parasites viruses of bacteria, and they can infect and kill antibiotic-sensitive and -resistant bacteria. Further, phages can be utilised as antibacterial agents against various kinds of bacterial infectious diseases. As compared to antibiotics, phages can show a more variety of modes of action and can also be safe in several cases. Phages as a mixture (cocktail) of viral strains are usually used in clinical practices. Generally, to propagate phage cocktails, the individual phage is grown and then mixed to prepare phage cocktails. Antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation can be controlled through formulating phage cocktails that comprise phages infecting single species or by combining phages with non-phages (antibiotics), which may result in a broad spectrum of activity. This chapter briefly highlights the formulations and application of phage cocktails, which are being used to treat various bacterial infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Indra Mani
- Department of Microbiology, Gargi College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India.
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23
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Zheng K, Dong Y, Liang Y, Liu Y, Zhang X, Zhang W, Wang Z, Shao H, Sung YY, Mok WJ, Wong LL, McMinn A, Wang M. Genomic diversity and ecological distribution of marine Pseudoalteromonas phages. MARINE LIFE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2023; 5:271-285. [PMID: 37275543 PMCID: PMC10232697 DOI: 10.1007/s42995-022-00160-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Pseudoalteromonas, with a ubiquitous distribution, is one of the most abundant marine bacterial genera. It is especially abundant in the deep sea and polar seas, where it has been found to have a broad metabolic capacity and unique co-existence strategies with other organisms. However, only a few Pseudoalteromonas phages have so far been isolated and investigated and their genomic diversity and distribution patterns are still unclear. Here, the genomes, taxonomic features and distribution patterns of Pseudoalteromonas phages are systematically analyzed, based on the microbial and viral genomes and metagenome datasets. A total of 143 complete or nearly complete Pseudoalteromonas-associated phage genomes (PSAPGs) were identified, including 34 Pseudoalteromonas phage isolates, 24 proviruses, and 85 Pseudoalteromonas-associated uncultured viral genomes (UViGs); these were assigned to 47 viral clusters at the genus level. Many integrated proviruses (n = 24) and filamentous phages were detected (n = 32), suggesting the prevalence of viral lysogenic life cycle in Pseudoalteromonas. PSAPGs encoded 66 types of 249 potential auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) relating to peptidases and nucleotide metabolism. They may also participate in marine biogeochemical cycles through the manipulation of the metabolism of their hosts, especially in the phosphorus and sulfur cycles. Siphoviral and filamentous PSAPGs were the predominant viral lineages found in polar areas, while some myoviral and siphoviral PSAPGs encoding transposase were more abundant in the deep sea. This study has expanded our understanding of the taxonomy, phylogenetic and ecological scope of marine Pseudoalteromonas phages and deepens our knowledge of viral impacts on Pseudoalteromonas. It will provide a baseline for the study of interactions between phages and Pseudoalteromonas in the ocean. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42995-022-00160-z.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaiyang Zheng
- College of Marine Life Sciences, Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, and Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100 China
| | - Yue Dong
- College of Marine Life Sciences, Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, and Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100 China
| | - Yantao Liang
- College of Marine Life Sciences, Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, and Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100 China
- UMT-OUC Joint Center for Marine Studies, Qingdao, 266003 China
| | - Yundan Liu
- College of Marine Life Sciences, Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, and Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100 China
| | - Xinran Zhang
- College of Marine Life Sciences, Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, and Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100 China
| | - Wenjing Zhang
- College of Marine Life Sciences, Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, and Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100 China
| | - Ziyue Wang
- College of Marine Life Sciences, Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, and Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100 China
| | - Hongbing Shao
- College of Marine Life Sciences, Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, and Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100 China
- UMT-OUC Joint Center for Marine Studies, Qingdao, 266003 China
| | - Yeong Yik Sung
- UMT-OUC Joint Center for Marine Studies, Qingdao, 266003 China
- Institute of Marine Biotechnology, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), 21030 Kuala Nerus, Malaysia
| | - Wen Jye Mok
- UMT-OUC Joint Center for Marine Studies, Qingdao, 266003 China
- Institute of Marine Biotechnology, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), 21030 Kuala Nerus, Malaysia
| | - Li Lian Wong
- UMT-OUC Joint Center for Marine Studies, Qingdao, 266003 China
- Institute of Marine Biotechnology, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), 21030 Kuala Nerus, Malaysia
| | - Andrew McMinn
- College of Marine Life Sciences, Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, and Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100 China
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
| | - Min Wang
- College of Marine Life Sciences, Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, and Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100 China
- UMT-OUC Joint Center for Marine Studies, Qingdao, 266003 China
- Haide College, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100 China
- The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266000 China
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Molina-Quiroz RC, Silva-Valenzuela CA. Interactions of Vibrio phages and their hosts in aquatic environments. Curr Opin Microbiol 2023; 74:102308. [PMID: 37062175 DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2023.102308] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2022] [Revised: 02/22/2023] [Accepted: 03/06/2023] [Indexed: 04/18/2023]
Abstract
Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that specifically infect bacteria. These viruses were discovered a century ago and have been used as a model system in microbial genetics and molecular biology. In order to survive, bacteria have to quickly adapt to phage challenges in their natural settings. In turn, phages continuously develop/evolve mechanisms for battling host defenses. A deeper understanding of the arms race between bacteria and phages is essential for the rational design of phage-based prophylaxis and therapies to prevent and treat bacterial infections. Vibrio species and their phages (vibriophages) are a suitable model to study these interactions. Phages are highly ubiquitous in aquatic environments and Vibrio are waterborne bacteria that must survive the constant attack by phages for successful transmission to their hosts. Here, we review relevant literature from the past two years to delve into the molecular interactions of Vibrio species and their phages in aquatic niches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto C Molina-Quiroz
- Stuart B. Levy Center for Integrated Management of Antimicrobial Resistance (Levy CIMAR), Tufts Medical Center and Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA
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25
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Tu Q, Pu M, Li Y, Wang Y, Li M, Song L, Li M, An X, Fan H, Tong Y. Acinetobacter Baumannii Phages: Past, Present and Future. Viruses 2023; 15:v15030673. [PMID: 36992382 PMCID: PMC10057898 DOI: 10.3390/v15030673] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Revised: 02/23/2023] [Accepted: 02/28/2023] [Indexed: 03/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) is one of the most common clinical pathogens and a typical multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacterium. With the increase of drug-resistant A. baumannii infections, it is urgent to find some new treatment strategies, such as phage therapy. In this paper, we described the different drug resistances of A. baumannii and some basic properties of A. baumannii phages, analyzed the interaction between phages and their hosts, and focused on A. baumannii phage therapies. Finally, we discussed the chance and challenge of phage therapy. This paper aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of A. baumannii phages and theoretical support for the clinical application of A. baumannii phages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qihang Tu
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Mingfang Pu
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Yahao Li
- Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering (BAIC-SM), Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Yuer Wang
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Maochen Li
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Lihua Song
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Mengzhe Li
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Xiaoping An
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Huahao Fan
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
- Correspondence: (H.F.); (Y.T.)
| | - Yigang Tong
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
- Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering (BAIC-SM), Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
- Correspondence: (H.F.); (Y.T.)
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26
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Wei TS, Gao ZM, Gong L, Li QM, Zhou YL, Chen HG, He LS, Wang Y. Genome-centric view of the microbiome in a new deep-sea glass sponge species Bathydorus sp. Front Microbiol 2023; 14:1078171. [PMID: 36846759 PMCID: PMC9944714 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1078171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2022] [Accepted: 01/12/2023] [Indexed: 02/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Sponges are widely distributed in the global ocean and harbor diverse symbiotic microbes with mutualistic relationships. However, sponge symbionts in the deep sea remain poorly studied at the genome level. Here, we report a new glass sponge species of the genus Bathydorus and provide a genome-centric view of its microbiome. We obtained 14 high-quality prokaryotic metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) affiliated with the phyla Nitrososphaerota, Pseudomonadota, Nitrospirota, Bdellovibrionota, SAR324, Bacteroidota, and Patescibacteria. In total, 13 of these MAGs probably represent new species, suggesting the high novelty of the deep-sea glass sponge microbiome. An ammonia-oxidizing Nitrososphaerota MAG B01, which accounted for up to 70% of the metagenome reads, dominated the sponge microbiomes. The B01 genome had a highly complex CRISPR array, which likely represents an advantageous evolution toward a symbiotic lifestyle and forceful ability to defend against phages. A sulfur-oxidizing Gammaproteobacteria species was the second most dominant symbiont, and a nitrite-oxidizing Nitrospirota species could also be detected, but with lower relative abundance. Bdellovibrio species represented by two MAGs, B11 and B12, were first reported as potential predatory symbionts in deep-sea glass sponges and have undergone dramatic genome reduction. Comprehensive functional analysis indicated that most of the sponge symbionts encoded CRISPR-Cas systems and eukaryotic-like proteins for symbiotic interactions with the host. Metabolic reconstruction further illustrated their essential roles in carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur cycles. In addition, diverse putative phages were identified from the sponge metagenomes. Our study expands the knowledge of microbial diversity, evolutionary adaption, and metabolic complementarity in deep-sea glass sponges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tao-Shu Wei
- Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, Hainan, China,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Zhao-Ming Gao
- Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, Hainan, China,*Correspondence: Zhao-Ming Gao ✉
| | - Lin Gong
- Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Qing-Mei Li
- Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, Hainan, China
| | - Ying-Li Zhou
- Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, Hainan, China
| | - Hua-Guan Chen
- Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, Hainan, China,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Li-Sheng He
- Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, Hainan, China
| | - Yong Wang
- Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, Hainan, China,Institute for Ocean Engineering, Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, China,Yong Wang ✉
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27
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Jiang JZ, Fang YF, Wei HY, Zhu P, Liu M, Yuan WG, Yang LL, Guo YX, Jin T, Shi M, Yao T, Lu J, Ye LT, Shi SK, Wang M, Duan M, Zhang DC. A remarkably diverse and well-organized virus community in a filter-feeding oyster. MICROBIOME 2023; 11:2. [PMID: 36611217 PMCID: PMC9825006 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-022-01431-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2022] [Accepted: 11/17/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Viruses play critical roles in the marine environment because of their interactions with an extremely broad range of potential hosts. Many studies of viruses in seawater have been published, but viruses that inhabit marine animals have been largely neglected. Oysters are keystone species in coastal ecosystems, yet as filter-feeding bivalves with very large roosting numbers and species co-habitation, it is not clear what role they play in marine virus transmission and coastal microbiome regulation. RESULTS Here, we report a Dataset of Oyster Virome (DOV) that contains 728,784 nonredundant viral operational taxonomic unit contigs (≥ 800 bp) and 3473 high-quality viral genomes, enabling the first comprehensive overview of both DNA and RNA viral communities in the oyster Crassostrea hongkongensis. We discovered tremendous diversity among novel viruses that inhabit this oyster using multiple approaches, including reads recruitment, viral operational taxonomic units, and high-quality virus genomes. Our results show that these viruses are very different from viruses in the oceans or other habitats. In particular, the high diversity of novel circoviruses that we found in the oysters indicates that oysters may be potential hotspots for circoviruses. Notably, the viruses that were enriched in oysters are not random but are well-organized communities that can respond to changes in the health state of the host and the external environment at both compositional and functional levels. CONCLUSIONS In this study, we generated a first "knowledge landscape" of the oyster virome, which has increased the number of known oyster-related viruses by tens of thousands. Our results suggest that oysters provide a unique habitat that is different from that of seawater, and highlight the importance of filter-feeding bivalves for marine virus exploration as well as their essential but still invisible roles in regulating marine ecosystems. Video Abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing-Zhe Jiang
- Key Laboratory of South China Sea Fishery Resources Exploitation and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou, 510300, Guangdong, China.
- College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China.
- Guangdong Province Key Laboratory for Biotechnology Drug Candidates, School of Biosciences and Biopharmaceutics, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, 510006, Guangdong, China.
- Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin, 300384, China.
| | - Yi-Fei Fang
- College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China
- Shanghai Majorbio Bio-Pharm Technology Co Ltd, Shanghai, 201203, China
| | - Hong-Ying Wei
- College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China
- Guangdong Magigene Biotechnology Co Ltd, Guangzhou, 510000, Guangdong, China
| | - Peng Zhu
- College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China
| | - Min Liu
- College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China
| | - Wen-Guang Yuan
- Guangdong Province Key Laboratory for Biotechnology Drug Candidates, School of Biosciences and Biopharmaceutics, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, 510006, Guangdong, China
| | - Li-Ling Yang
- Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin, 300384, China
| | | | - Tao Jin
- Guangdong Magigene Biotechnology Co Ltd, Guangzhou, 510000, Guangdong, China
| | - Mang Shi
- School of Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, Shenzhen, 518107, Guangdong, China
| | - Tuo Yao
- Key Laboratory of South China Sea Fishery Resources Exploitation and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou, 510300, Guangdong, China
| | - Jie Lu
- Key Laboratory of South China Sea Fishery Resources Exploitation and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou, 510300, Guangdong, China
| | - Ling-Tong Ye
- Key Laboratory of South China Sea Fishery Resources Exploitation and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou, 510300, Guangdong, China
| | - Shao-Kun Shi
- Shenzhen Fisheries Development Research Center, Shenzhen, 518067, Guangdong, China
| | - Meng Wang
- Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Conghua District, Guangzhou, 510925, Guangdong, China
| | - Ming Duan
- State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430072, China, Hubei.
| | - Dian-Chang Zhang
- Key Laboratory of South China Sea Fishery Resources Exploitation and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou, 510300, Guangdong, China.
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28
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Hackl T, Laurenceau R, Ankenbrand MJ, Bliem C, Cariani Z, Thomas E, Dooley KD, Arellano AA, Hogle SL, Berube P, Leventhal GE, Luo E, Eppley JM, Zayed AA, Beaulaurier J, Stepanauskas R, Sullivan MB, DeLong EF, Biller SJ, Chisholm SW. Novel integrative elements and genomic plasticity in ocean ecosystems. Cell 2023; 186:47-62.e16. [PMID: 36608657 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Revised: 09/16/2022] [Accepted: 12/05/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Horizontal gene transfer accelerates microbial evolution. The marine picocyanobacterium Prochlorococcus exhibits high genomic plasticity, yet the underlying mechanisms are elusive. Here, we report a novel family of DNA transposons-"tycheposons"-some of which are viral satellites while others carry cargo, such as nutrient-acquisition genes, which shape the genetic variability in this globally abundant genus. Tycheposons share distinctive mobile-lifecycle-linked hallmark genes, including a deep-branching site-specific tyrosine recombinase. Their excision and integration at tRNA genes appear to drive the remodeling of genomic islands-key reservoirs for flexible genes in bacteria. In a selection experiment, tycheposons harboring a nitrate assimilation cassette were dynamically gained and lost, thereby promoting chromosomal rearrangements and host adaptation. Vesicles and phage particles harvested from seawater are enriched in tycheposons, providing a means for their dispersal in the wild. Similar elements are found in microbes co-occurring with Prochlorococcus, suggesting a common mechanism for microbial diversification in the vast oligotrophic oceans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Hackl
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700CC Groningen, the Netherlands.
| | - Raphaël Laurenceau
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Markus J Ankenbrand
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; University of Würzburg, Center for Computational and Theoretical Biology, 97070 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Christina Bliem
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Zev Cariani
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Elaina Thomas
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Keven D Dooley
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Aldo A Arellano
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Shane L Hogle
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Paul Berube
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Gabriel E Leventhal
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Elaine Luo
- Daniel K. Inouye Center for Microbial Oceanography, Research and Education, University of Hawai'i Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
| | - John M Eppley
- Daniel K. Inouye Center for Microbial Oceanography, Research and Education, University of Hawai'i Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
| | - Ahmed A Zayed
- EMERGE Biology Integration Institute, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | | | | | - Matthew B Sullivan
- Department of Microbiology & Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; EMERGE Biology Integration Institute, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Center of Microbiome Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Edward F DeLong
- Daniel K. Inouye Center for Microbial Oceanography, Research and Education, University of Hawai'i Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
| | - Steven J Biller
- Wellesley College, Department of Biological Sciences, Wellesley, MA 02481, USA
| | - Sallie W Chisholm
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Biology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
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29
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Molina-Quiroz RC, Camilli A, Silva-Valenzuela CA. Role of Bacteriophages in the Evolution of Pathogenic Vibrios and Lessons for Phage Therapy. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2023; 1404:149-173. [PMID: 36792875 PMCID: PMC10587905 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-22997-8_8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/17/2023]
Abstract
Viruses of bacteria, i.e., bacteriophages (or phages for short), were discovered over a century ago and have played a major role as a model system for the establishment of the fields of microbial genetics and molecular biology. Despite the relative simplicity of phages, microbiologists are continually discovering new aspects of their biology including mechanisms for battling host defenses. In turn, novel mechanisms of host defense against phages are being discovered at a rapid clip. A deeper understanding of the arms race between bacteria and phages will continue to reveal novel molecular mechanisms and will be important for the rational design of phage-based prophylaxis and therapies to prevent and treat bacterial infections, respectively. Here we delve into the molecular interactions of Vibrio species and phages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto C Molina-Quiroz
- Stuart B. Levy Center for Integrated Management of Antimicrobial Resistance (Levy CIMAR), Tufts Medical Center and Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Andrew Camilli
- Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Tufts University, School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
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30
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Hackl T, Laurenceau R, Ankenbrand MJ, Bliem C, Cariani Z, Thomas E, Dooley KD, Arellano AA, Hogle SL, Berube P, Leventhal GE, Luo E, Eppley JM, Zayed AA, Beaulaurier J, Stepanauskas R, Sullivan MB, DeLong EF, Biller SJ, Chisholm SW. Novel integrative elements and genomic plasticity in ocean ecosystems. Cell 2023. [DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2022.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
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31
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Koonin EV, Krupovic M, Dolja VV. The global virome: How much diversity and how many independent origins? Environ Microbiol 2023; 25:40-44. [PMID: 36097140 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2022] [Accepted: 09/11/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Viruses are considered to be the most abundant biological entities on earth. They also display striking genetic diversity as emphatically demonstrated by the recent advances of metagenomics and metatranscriptomics. But what are the limits of this diversity, that is, how many virus species in the earth virome? By combining the available estimates of the number of prokaryote species with those of the virome size, we obtain back-of-the-envelope estimates of the total number of distinct virus species, which come out astronomically large, from about 107 to about 109 . The route of virus origins apparently involved non-viral replicators capturing and exapting various cellular proteins to become virus capsid subunits. How many times in the history of life has this happened? In other words, how many realms of viruses, the highest rank taxa that are supposed to be monophyletic, comprise the global virome? We argue that viruses emerged on a number (even if far from astronomical) independent occasions, so the number of realms will considerably increase from the current 6, by splitting some of the current realms, giving the realm status to some of the currently unclassified groups of viruses and discovery of new distinct groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eugene V Koonin
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Mart Krupovic
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR6047, Archaeal Virology Unit, Paris, France
| | - Valerian V Dolja
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Oregon, USA
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32
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Zhu Y, Shang J, Peng C, Sun Y. Phage family classification under Caudoviricetes: A review of current tools using the latest ICTV classification framework. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:1032186. [PMID: 36590402 PMCID: PMC9800612 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1032186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Bacteriophages, which are viruses infecting bacteria, are the most ubiquitous and diverse entities in the biosphere. There is accumulating evidence revealing their important roles in shaping the structure of various microbiomes. Thanks to (viral) metagenomic sequencing, a large number of new bacteriophages have been discovered. However, lacking a standard and automatic virus classification pipeline, the taxonomic characterization of new viruses seriously lag behind the sequencing efforts. In particular, according to the latest version of ICTV, several large phage families in the previous classification system are removed. Therefore, a comprehensive review and comparison of taxonomic classification tools under the new standard are needed to establish the state-of-the-art. In this work, we retrained and tested four recently published tools on newly labeled databases. We demonstrated their utilities and tested them on multiple datasets, including the RefSeq, short contigs, simulated metagenomic datasets, and low-similarity datasets. This study provides a comprehensive review of phage family classification in different scenarios and a practical guidance for choosing appropriate taxonomic classification pipelines. To our best knowledge, this is the first review conducted under the new ICTV classification framework. The results show that the new family classification framework overall leads to better conserved groups and thus makes family-level classification more feasible.
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33
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Characterization of the phosphotriesterase capable of hydrolyzing aryl-organophosphate flame retardants. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 2022; 106:6493-6504. [DOI: 10.1007/s00253-022-12127-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2022] [Revised: 08/02/2022] [Accepted: 08/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
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Yutin N, Rayko M, Antipov D, Mutz P, Wolf YI, Krupovic M, Koonin EV. Varidnaviruses in the Human Gut: A Major Expansion of the Order Vinavirales. Viruses 2022; 14:v14091842. [PMID: 36146653 PMCID: PMC9502842 DOI: 10.3390/v14091842] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2022] [Revised: 08/19/2022] [Accepted: 08/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Bacteriophages play key roles in the dynamics of the human microbiome. By far the most abundant components of the human gut virome are tailed bacteriophages of the realm Duplodnaviria, in particular, crAss-like phages. However, apart from duplodnaviruses, the gut virome has not been dissected in detail. Here we report a comprehensive census of a minor component of the gut virome, the tailless bacteriophages of the realm Varidnaviria. Tailless phages are primarily represented in the gut by prophages, that are mostly integrated in genomes of Alphaproteobacteria and Verrucomicrobia and belong to the order Vinavirales, which currently consists of the families Corticoviridae and Autolykiviridae. Phylogenetic analysis of the major capsid proteins (MCP) suggests that at least three new families should be established within Vinavirales to accommodate the diversity of prophages from the human gut virome. Previously, only the MCP and packaging ATPase genes were reported as conserved core genes of Vinavirales. Here we report an extended core set of 12 proteins, including MCP, packaging ATPase, and previously undetected lysis enzymes, that are shared by most of these viruses. We further demonstrate that replication system components are frequently replaced in the genomes of Vinavirales, suggestive of selective pressure for escape from yet unknown host defenses or avoidance of incompatibility with coinfecting related viruses. The results of this analysis show that, in a sharp contrast to marine viromes, varidnaviruses are a minor component of the human gut virome. Moreover, they are primarily represented by prophages, as indicated by the analysis of the flanking genes, suggesting that there are few, if any, lytic varidnavirus infections in the gut at any given time. These findings complement the existing knowledge of the human gut virome by exploring a group of viruses that has been virtually overlooked in previous work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalya Yutin
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA
| | - Mike Rayko
- Center for Algorithmic Biotechnology, Institute for Translational Biomedicine, St. Petersburg State University, 199004 St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Dmitry Antipov
- Center for Algorithmic Biotechnology, Institute for Translational Biomedicine, St. Petersburg State University, 199004 St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Pascal Mutz
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA
| | - Yuri I. Wolf
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA
| | - Mart Krupovic
- Archaeal Virology Unit, Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR6047, F-75015 Paris, France
| | - Eugene V. Koonin
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA
- Correspondence:
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35
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Imai T, Inoue R, Nishida A, Yokota Y, Morishima S, Kawahara M, Kusada H, Tamaki H, Andoh A. Features of the gut prokaryotic virome of Japanese patients with Crohn's disease. J Gastroenterol 2022; 57:559-570. [PMID: 35689701 DOI: 10.1007/s00535-022-01882-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2022] [Accepted: 05/16/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND/AIMS The gut virome is mainly composed of bacteriophages and influences gut homeostasis and pathogenic conditions. In this study, we analyzed the gut prokaryotic virome in Japanese patients with Crohn's disease (CD). MATERIALS/METHODS We collected 19 fecal samples from CD patients and 16 samples from healthy controls. The gut bacteriome was analyzed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and the virome was profiled by shotgun metagenomic sequencing. RESULTS Despite no differences in richness and evenness, there was a significant difference in the overall structure of the gut virome between CD patients and controls (P = 0.013). CrAssphage and Staphylococcus virus, belonging to the order Caudovirales, were dominant in the gut virome of controls and CD patients. The abundance of crAssphage was significantly greater in CD patients than controls (P = 0.021). Lactococcus, Enterococcus and Lactobacillus phages were present only in CD patients, while Xanthomonas and Escherichia phages were unique to the controls. In the gut bacteriome of CD patients, richness and evenness were significantly lower, and a significant difference in the overall structure was observed between groups (P = 0.014). The gut bacteriome of CD patients was characterized by a decrease of the genera Faecalibacterium, Roseburia, and Ruminococcus and an increase of the family Enterobacteriaceae. There were more significant correlations between viruses and bacteria in CD patients than controls. CONCLUSIONS The gut virome of CD patients was distinct from that of healthy controls in a Japanese population. An altered gut virome may be one of the factors associated with the bacterial dysbiosis of CD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takayuki Imai
- Department of Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Seta-Tsukinowa, Otsu, Shiga, 520-2192, Japan
| | - Ryo Inoue
- Department of Applied Biological Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Setsunan University, Hirakata, Osaka, 573-0101, Japan
| | - Atsushi Nishida
- Department of Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Seta-Tsukinowa, Otsu, Shiga, 520-2192, Japan
| | - Yoshihiro Yokota
- Department of Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Seta-Tsukinowa, Otsu, Shiga, 520-2192, Japan
| | - So Morishima
- Department of Applied Biological Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Setsunan University, Hirakata, Osaka, 573-0101, Japan
| | - Masahiro Kawahara
- Department of Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Seta-Tsukinowa, Otsu, Shiga, 520-2192, Japan
| | - Hiroyuki Kusada
- Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8566, Japan
| | - Hideyuki Tamaki
- Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8566, Japan
| | - Akira Andoh
- Department of Medicine, Shiga University of Medical Science, Seta-Tsukinowa, Otsu, Shiga, 520-2192, Japan.
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36
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Rao VB, Zhu J. Bacteriophage T4 as a nanovehicle for delivery of genes and therapeutics into human cells. Curr Opin Virol 2022; 55:101255. [PMID: 35952598 DOI: 10.1016/j.coviro.2022.101255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2022] [Accepted: 07/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
The ability to deliver therapeutic genes and biomolecules into a human cell and restore a defective function has been the holy grail of medicine. Adeno-associated viruses and lentiviruses have been extensively used as delivery vehicles, but their capacity is limited to one (or two) gene(s). Bacteriophages are emerging as novel vehicles for gene therapy. The large 120 × 86-nm T4 capsid allows engineering of both its surface and its interior to incorporate combinations of DNAs, RNAs, proteins, and their complexes. In vitro assembly using purified components allows customization for various applications and for individualized therapies. Its large capacity, cell-targeting capability, safety, and inexpensive manufacturing could open unprecedented new possibilities for gene, cancer, and stem cell therapies. However, efficient entry into primary human cells and intracellular trafficking are significant barriers that must be overcome by gene engineering and evolution in order to translate phage-delivery technology from bench to bedside.
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Affiliation(s)
- Venigalla B Rao
- Bacteriophage Medical Research Center, Department of Biology, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC 20064, USA.
| | - Jingen Zhu
- Bacteriophage Medical Research Center, Department of Biology, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC 20064, USA
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Huang C, Feng C, Liu X, Zhao R, Wang Z, Xi H, Ou H, Han W, Guo Z, Gu J, Zhang L. The Bacteriophage vB_CbrM_HP1 Protects Crucian Carp Against Citrobacter braakii Infection. Front Vet Sci 2022; 9:888561. [PMID: 35601403 PMCID: PMC9120918 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2022.888561] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2022] [Accepted: 04/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Citrobacter braakii is an opportunistic pathogen that induces aquatic infections in fish and turtles. In this study, a bacteriophage that infects C. braakii, named vB_CbrM_HP1, was isolated from sewage. This phage belongs to Myoviridae family, Ounavirinae subfamily, Mooglevirus genus. We also used the phage to treat crucian carp infection caused by C. braakii for the first time. vB_CbrM_HP1 was relatively stable at temperatures ranging from 4 to 60°C and pH values ranging from 3 to 11 but float slightly. When the multiplicities of infection (MOI) was 0.0001, the titer reached a maximum of 4.20 × 1010 PFU/ml. As revealed from the results of whole genomic sequence analysis, the total length of vB_CbrM_HP1 was 89335 bp, encoding 135 ORFs, 9 of which were <75% similar to the known sequences in NCBI. The phage vB_CbrM_HP1 showed a highly efficient bactericidal effect against C. braakii both in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, vB_CbrM_HP1 was capable of effectively killing bacteria (the colony count decreased by 4.7 log units at 5 h). In vivo, administration of vB_CbrM_HP1 (1 × 109 PFU) effectively protected crucian carp against fatal infection caused by C. braakii. Phage treatment reduced the levels of inflammatory factors. All these results demonstrated the potential of vB_CbrM_HP1 as an alternative treatment strategy for infections caused by C. braakii.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chunzheng Huang
- State Key Laboratory for Zoonotic Diseases, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Chao Feng
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, China
| | - Xiao Liu
- State Key Laboratory for Zoonotic Diseases, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Rihong Zhao
- State Key Laboratory for Zoonotic Diseases, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Zijing Wang
- State Key Laboratory for Zoonotic Diseases, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Hengyu Xi
- State Key Laboratory for Zoonotic Diseases, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Hongda Ou
- State Key Laboratory for Zoonotic Diseases, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Wenyu Han
- State Key Laboratory for Zoonotic Diseases, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Zhimin Guo
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
- *Correspondence: Zhimin Guo
| | - Jingmin Gu
- State Key Laboratory for Zoonotic Diseases, Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, China
- Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for the Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
- Jingmin Gu
| | - Lei Zhang
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, China
- Lei Zhang
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38
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Viral community analysis in a marine oxygen minimum zone indicates increased potential for viral manipulation of microbial physiological state. THE ISME JOURNAL 2022; 16:972-982. [PMID: 34743175 PMCID: PMC8940887 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-021-01143-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2021] [Revised: 10/11/2021] [Accepted: 10/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Microbial communities in oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) are known to have significant impacts on global biogeochemical cycles, but viral influence on microbial processes in these regions are much less studied. Here we provide baseline ecological patterns using microscopy and viral metagenomics from the Eastern Tropical North Pacific (ETNP) OMZ region that enhance our understanding of viruses in these climate-critical systems. While extracellular viral abundance decreased below the oxycline, viral diversity and lytic infection frequency remained high within the OMZ, demonstrating that viral influences on microbial communities were still substantial without the detectable presence of oxygen. Viral community composition was strongly related to oxygen concentration, with viral populations in low-oxygen portions of the water column being distinct from their surface layer counterparts. However, this divergence was not accompanied by the expected differences in viral-encoded auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) relating to nitrogen and sulfur metabolisms that are known to be performed by microbial communities in these low-oxygen and anoxic regions. Instead, several abundant AMGs were identified in the oxycline and OMZ that may modulate host responses to low-oxygen stress. We hypothesize that this is due to selection for viral-encoded genes that influence host survivability rather than modulating host metabolic reactions within the ETNP OMZ. Together, this study shows that viruses are not only diverse throughout the water column in the ETNP, including the OMZ, but their infection of microorganisms has the potential to alter host physiological state within these biogeochemically important regions of the ocean.
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Kieft K, Anantharaman K. Virus genomics: what is being overlooked? Curr Opin Virol 2022; 53:101200. [DOI: 10.1016/j.coviro.2022.101200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2021] [Revised: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 01/03/2022] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
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40
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Tall tails: cryo-electron microscopy of phage tail DNA ejection conduits. Biochem Soc Trans 2022; 50:459-22W. [PMID: 35129586 PMCID: PMC9022992 DOI: 10.1042/bst20210799] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2021] [Revised: 01/06/2022] [Accepted: 01/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The majority of phages, viruses that infect prokaryotes, inject their genomic material into their host through a tubular assembly known as a tail. Despite the genomic diversity of tailed phages, only three morphological archetypes have been described: contractile tails of Myoviridae-like phages; short non-contractile tails of Podoviridae-like phages; and long and flexible non-contractile tails of Siphoviridae-like phages. While early cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) work elucidated the organisation of the syringe-like injection mechanism of contractile tails, the intrinsic flexibility of the long non-contractile tails prevented high-resolution structural determination. In 2020, four cryo-EM structures of Siphoviridae-like tail tubes were solved and revealed common themes and divergences. The central tube is structurally conserved and homologous to the hexameric rings of the tail tube protein (TTP) also found in contractile tails, bacterial pyocins, and type VI secretion systems. The interior surface of the tube presents analogous motifs of negatively charged amino acids proposed to facilitate ratcheting of the DNA during genome ejection. The lack of a conformational change upon genome ejection implicates the tape measure protein in triggering genome release. A distinctive feature of Siphoviridae-like tails is their flexibility. This results from loose inter-ring connections that can asymmetrically stretch on one side to allow bending and flexing of the tube without breaking. The outer surface of the tube differs greatly and may be smooth or rugged due to additional Ig-like domains in TTP. Some of these variable domains may contribute to adsorption of the phage to prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell surfaces affecting tropism and virulence.
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41
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Cellular homologs of the double jelly-roll major capsid proteins clarify the origins of an ancient virus kingdom. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:2120620119. [PMID: 35078938 PMCID: PMC8812541 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2120620119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Viruses are the most abundant biological entities on Earth and ubiquitous parasites of cellular life forms. The general scenario for the origin of viruses involves evolution from nonviral replicators, such as plasmids and transposons, via recruitment of host proteins for virion formation. One of the most common virion core components, the double jelly-roll major capsid protein of a broad variety of viruses with double-stranded DNA genomes, so far has been thought to represent a virus innovation. However, we present evidence, obtained by protein structure comparison, that this type of virus capsid protein also evolved from a cellular ancestor, a distinct family of carbohydrate-active enzymes. These findings reinforce the chimeric scenario of virus origin. Viruses are a distinct type of replicators that encode structural proteins encasing virus genomes in virions. For some of the widespread virus capsid proteins and other major components of virions, likely ancestors encoded by cellular life forms are identifiable. In particular, one of the most common capsid proteins, with the single jelly-roll (SJR) fold, appears to have evolved from a particular family of cellular carbohydrate-binding proteins. However, the double jelly-roll major capsid protein (DJR-MCP), the hallmark of the enormously diverse viruses of the kingdom Bamfordvirae within the realm Varidnaviria, which includes bacterial and archaeal icosahedral viruses as well as eukaryotic giant viruses, has been perceived as a virus innovation that evolved by duplication and fusion of the SJR capsid proteins. Here we employ protein structure comparison to show that the DJR fold is represented in several widespread families of cellular proteins, including several groups of carbohydrate-active enzymes. We show that DJR-MCPs share a common ancestry with a distinct family of bacterial DJR proteins (DUF2961) involved in carbohydrate metabolism. Based on this finding, we propose a scenario in which bamfordviruses evolved from nonviral replicators, in particular plasmids, by recruiting a host protein for capsid formation. This sequence of events appears to be the general route of virus origin. The results of this work indicate that virus kingdoms Bamfordvirae, with the DJR-MCPs, and Helvetiavirae that possess two SJR-MCPs, have distinct origins, suggesting a reappraisal of the realm Varidnaviria.
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42
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Kauffman KM, Chang WK, Brown JM, Hussain FA, Yang J, Polz MF, Kelly L. Resolving the structure of phage-bacteria interactions in the context of natural diversity. Nat Commun 2022; 13:372. [PMID: 35042853 PMCID: PMC8766483 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27583-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2020] [Accepted: 11/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Microbial communities are shaped by viral predators. Yet, resolving which viruses (phages) and bacteria are interacting is a major challenge in the context of natural levels of microbial diversity. Thus, fundamental features of how phage-bacteria interactions are structured and evolve in the wild remain poorly resolved. Here we use large-scale isolation of environmental marine Vibrio bacteria and their phages to obtain estimates of strain-level phage predator loads, and use all-by-all host range assays to discover how phage and host genomic diversity shape interactions. We show that lytic interactions in environmental interaction networks (as observed in agar overlay) are sparse-with phage predator loads being low for most bacterial strains, and phages being host-strain-specific. Paradoxically, we also find that although overlap in killing is generally rare between tailed phages, recombination is common. Together, these results suggest that recombination during cryptic co-infections is an important mode of phage evolution in microbial communities. In the development of phages for bioengineering and therapeutics it is important to consider that nucleic acids of introduced phages may spread into local phage populations through recombination, and that the likelihood of transfer is not predictable based on lytic host range.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn M Kauffman
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
- Department of Oral Biology, The University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 14214, USA
| | - William K Chang
- Department of Systems and Computational Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA
| | - Julia M Brown
- Department of Systems and Computational Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA
- Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, East Boothbay, ME, 04544, USA
| | - Fatima A Hussain
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Joy Yang
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Martin F Polz
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Libusha Kelly
- Department of Systems and Computational Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA.
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA.
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43
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Zuppi M, Hendrickson HL, O’Sullivan JM, Vatanen T. Phages in the Gut Ecosystem. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2022; 11:822562. [PMID: 35059329 PMCID: PMC8764184 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.822562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2021] [Accepted: 12/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Phages, short for bacteriophages, are viruses that specifically infect bacteria and are the most abundant biological entities on earth found in every explored environment, from the deep sea to the Sahara Desert. Phages are abundant within the human biome and are gaining increasing recognition as potential modulators of the gut ecosystem. For example, they have been connected to gastrointestinal diseases and the treatment efficacy of Fecal Microbiota Transplant. The ability of phages to modulate the human gut microbiome has been attributed to the predation of bacteria or the promotion of bacterial survival by the transfer of genes that enhance bacterial fitness upon infection. In addition, phages have been shown to interact with the human immune system with variable outcomes. Despite the increasing evidence supporting the importance of phages in the gut ecosystem, the extent of their influence on the shape of the gut ecosystem is yet to be fully understood. Here, we discuss evidence for phage modulation of the gut microbiome, postulating that phages are pivotal contributors to the gut ecosystem dynamics. We therefore propose novel research questions to further elucidate the role(s) that they have within the human ecosystem and its impact on our health and well-being.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michele Zuppi
- The Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Heather L. Hendrickson
- The School of Natural and Computational Sciences, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Justin M. O’Sullivan
- The Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- The Maurice Wilkins Centre, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
| | - Tommi Vatanen
- The Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, United States
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44
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Göller PC, Elsener T, Lorgé D, Radulovic N, Bernardi V, Naumann A, Amri N, Khatchatourova E, Coutinho FH, Loessner MJ, Gómez-Sanz E. Multi-species host range of staphylococcal phages isolated from wastewater. Nat Commun 2021; 12:6965. [PMID: 34845206 PMCID: PMC8629997 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27037-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2021] [Accepted: 10/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The host range of bacteriophages defines their impact on bacterial communities and genome diversity. Here, we characterize 94 novel staphylococcal phages from wastewater and establish their host range on a diversified panel of 117 staphylococci from 29 species. Using this high-resolution phage-bacteria interaction matrix, we unveil a multi-species host range as a dominant trait of the isolated staphylococcal phages. Phage genome sequencing shows this pattern to prevail irrespective of taxonomy. Network analysis between phage-infected bacteria reveals that hosts from multiple species, ecosystems, and drug-resistance phenotypes share numerous phages. Lastly, we show that phages throughout this network can package foreign genetic material enclosing an antibiotic resistance marker at various frequencies. Our findings indicate a weak host specialism of the tested phages, and therefore their potential to promote horizontal gene transfer in this environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pauline C. Göller
- grid.5801.c0000 0001 2156 2780Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Tabea Elsener
- grid.5801.c0000 0001 2156 2780Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Dominic Lorgé
- grid.5801.c0000 0001 2156 2780Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Natasa Radulovic
- grid.5801.c0000 0001 2156 2780Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Viona Bernardi
- grid.5801.c0000 0001 2156 2780Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Annika Naumann
- grid.5801.c0000 0001 2156 2780Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Nesrine Amri
- grid.5801.c0000 0001 2156 2780Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Ekaterina Khatchatourova
- grid.5801.c0000 0001 2156 2780Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Felipe Hernandes Coutinho
- grid.26811.3c0000 0001 0586 4893Departamento de Producción Vegetal y Microbiología, Universidad Miguel Hernández, San Juan de Alicante, Spain
| | - Martin J. Loessner
- grid.5801.c0000 0001 2156 2780Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Elena Gómez-Sanz
- Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland. .,Área de Microbiología Molecular, Centro de Investigación Biomédica de La Rioja (CIBIR), Logroño, Spain.
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45
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Ibarra-Chávez R, Hansen MF, Pinilla-Redondo R, Seed KD, Trivedi U. Phage satellites and their emerging applications in biotechnology. FEMS Microbiol Rev 2021; 45:fuab031. [PMID: 34104956 PMCID: PMC8632786 DOI: 10.1093/femsre/fuab031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2021] [Accepted: 06/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The arms race between (bacterio)phages and their hosts is a recognised hot spot for genome evolution. Indeed, phages and their components have historically paved the way for many molecular biology techniques and biotech applications. Further exploration into their complex lifestyles has revealed that phages are often parasitised by distinct types of hyperparasitic mobile genetic elements. These so-called phage satellites exploit phages to ensure their own propagation and horizontal transfer into new bacterial hosts, and their prevalence and peculiar lifestyle has caught the attention of many researchers. Here, we review the parasite-host dynamics of the known phage satellites, their genomic organisation and their hijacking mechanisms. Finally, we discuss how these elements can be repurposed for diverse biotech applications, kindling a new catalogue of exciting tools for microbiology and synthetic biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rodrigo Ibarra-Chávez
- Section of Microbiology, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Mads Frederik Hansen
- Section of Microbiology, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
- Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, 35043 Marburg, Germany
| | - Rafael Pinilla-Redondo
- Section of Microbiology, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Kimberley D Seed
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Urvish Trivedi
- Section of Microbiology, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
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Novel PhoH-encoding vibriophages with lytic activity against environmental Vibrio strains. Arch Microbiol 2021; 203:5321-5331. [PMID: 34379161 DOI: 10.1007/s00203-021-02511-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2020] [Revised: 07/23/2021] [Accepted: 08/04/2021] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Cholera is a devastating diarrheal disease that accounts for more than 10% of children's lives worldwide, but its treatment is hampered by a rise in antibiotic resistance. One promising alternative to antibiotic therapy is the use of bacteriophages to treat antibiotic-resistant cholera infections, and control Vibrio cholera in clinical cases and in the environment, respectively. Here, we report four novel, closely related environmental myoviruses, VP4, VP6, VP18, and VP24, which we isolated from two environmental toxigenic Vibrio cholerae strains from river Kuja and Usenge beach in Kenya. High-throughput sequencing followed by bioinformatics analysis indicated that the genomes of the four bacteriophages have closely related sequences, with sizes of 148,180 bp, 148,181 bp, 148,179 bp, and 148,179 bp, and a G + C content of 36.4%. The four genomes carry the phoH gene, which is overrepresented in marine cyanophages. The isolated phages displayed a lytic activity against 15 environmental, as well as one clinical, Vibrio cholerae strains. Thus, these novel lytic vibriophages represent potential biocontrol candidates for water decontamination against pathogenic Vibrio cholerae and ought to be considered for future studies of phage therapy.
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47
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Trofimenko E, Grasso G, Heulot M, Chevalier N, Deriu MA, Dubuis G, Arribat Y, Serulla M, Michel S, Vantomme G, Ory F, Dam LC, Puyal J, Amati F, Lüthi A, Danani A, Widmann C. Genetic, cellular, and structural characterization of the membrane potential-dependent cell-penetrating peptide translocation pore. eLife 2021; 10:69832. [PMID: 34713805 PMCID: PMC8639150 DOI: 10.7554/elife.69832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2021] [Accepted: 10/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) allow intracellular delivery of bioactive cargo molecules. The mechanisms allowing CPPs to enter cells are ill-defined. Using a CRISPR/Cas9-based screening, we discovered that KCNQ5, KCNN4, and KCNK5 potassium channels positively modulate cationic CPP direct translocation into cells by decreasing the transmembrane potential (Vm). These findings provide the first unbiased genetic validation of the role of Vm in CPP translocation in cells. In silico modeling and live cell experiments indicate that CPPs, by bringing positive charges on the outer surface of the plasma membrane, decrease the Vm to very low values (–150 mV or less), a situation we have coined megapolarization that then triggers formation of water pores used by CPPs to enter cells. Megapolarization lowers the free energy barrier associated with CPP membrane translocation. Using dyes of varying dimensions in CPP co-entry experiments, the diameter of the water pores in living cells was estimated to be 2 (–5) nm, in accordance with the structural characteristics of the pores predicted by in silico modeling. Pharmacological manipulation to lower transmembrane potential boosted CPP cellular internalization in zebrafish and mouse models. Besides identifying the first proteins that regulate CPP translocation, this work characterized key mechanistic steps used by CPPs to cross cellular membranes. This opens the ground for strategies aimed at improving the ability of cells to capture CPP-linked cargos in vitro and in vivo. Before a drug can have its desired effect, it must reach its target tissue or organ, and enter its cells. This is not easy because cells are surrounded by the plasma membrane, a fat-based barrier that separates the cell from its external environment. The plasma membrane contains proteins that act as channels, shuttling specific molecules in and out of the cell, and it also holds charge, with its inside surface being more negatively charged than its outside surface. Cell-penetrating peptides are short sequences of amino acids (the building blocks that form proteins) that carry positive charges. These positive charges allow them to cross the membrane easily, but it is not well understood how. To find out how cell-penetrating peptides cross the membrane, Trofimenko et al. attached them to dyes of different sizes. This revealed that the cell-penetrating peptides enter the cell through temporary holes called water pores, which measure about two nanometres across. The water pores form when the membrane becomes ‘megapolarized’, this is, when the difference in charge between the inside and the outside of the membrane becomes greater than normal. This can happen when the negative charge on the inside surface or the positive charge on the outer surface of the membrane increase. Megapolarization depends on potassium channels, which transport positive potassium ions outside the cell, making the outside of the membrane positive. When cell-penetrating peptides arrive at the outer surface of the cell near potassium channels, they make it even more positive. This increases the charge difference between the inside and the outside of the cell, allowing water pores to form. Once the peptides pass through the pores, the charge difference between the inside and the outside of the cell membrane dissipates, and the pores collapse. Drug developers are experimenting with attaching cell-penetrating peptides to drugs to help them get inside their target cells. Currently there are several experimental medications of this kind in clinical trials. Understanding how these peptides gain entry, and what size of molecule they could carry with them, provides solid ground for further drug development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evgeniya Trofimenko
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Gianvito Grasso
- Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research, Università della Svizzera italiana, Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland
| | - Mathieu Heulot
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Nadja Chevalier
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Marco A Deriu
- PolitoBIOMed Lab Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Gilles Dubuis
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Yoan Arribat
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Marc Serulla
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Sebastien Michel
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Gil Vantomme
- Department of Fundamental Neurosciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Florine Ory
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Linh Chi Dam
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Julien Puyal
- Department of Fundamental Neurosciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.,CURML (University Center of Legal Medicine), Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Francesca Amati
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Anita Lüthi
- Department of Fundamental Neurosciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Andrea Danani
- Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research, Università della Svizzera italiana, Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland
| | - Christian Widmann
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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48
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Abstract
Viruses are ubiquitous on Earth and are keystone components of environments, ecosystems, and human health. Yet, viruses remain poorly studied because most cannot be isolated in a laboratory. In the field of biogeochemistry, which aims to understand the interactions between biology, geology, and chemistry, there is progress to be made in understanding the different roles played by viruses in nutrient cycling, food webs, and elemental transformations. In this commentary, we outline current microbial ecology frameworks for understanding biogeochemical cycling in aquatic ecosystems. Next, we review some existing experimental and computational techniques that are enabling us to study the role of viruses in biogeochemical cycling, using examples from aquatic environments. Finally, we provide a conceptual model that balances limitations of computational tools when combined with biogeochemistry and ecological data. We envision meeting the grand challenge of understanding how viruses impact biogeochemical cycling by using a multifaceted approach to viral ecology.
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49
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Hussain FA, Dubert J, Elsherbini J, Murphy M, VanInsberghe D, Arevalo P, Kauffman K, Rodino-Janeiro BK, Gavin H, Gomez A, Lopatina A, Le Roux F, Polz MF. Rapid evolutionary turnover of mobile genetic elements drives bacterial resistance to phages. Science 2021; 374:488-492. [PMID: 34672730 DOI: 10.1126/science.abb1083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
[Figure: see text].
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Affiliation(s)
- Fatima Aysha Hussain
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Javier Dubert
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Joseph Elsherbini
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Mikayla Murphy
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - David VanInsberghe
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Philip Arevalo
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Kathryn Kauffman
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Bruno Kotska Rodino-Janeiro
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Center for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Hannah Gavin
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Annika Gomez
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Anna Lopatina
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Center for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Frédérique Le Roux
- Ifremer, Unité Physiologie Fonctionnelle des Organismes Marins, CS 10070, F-29280 Plouzané, France.,Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 8227, Integrative Biology of Marine Models, Station Biologique de Roscoff, CS 90074, F-29688 Roscoff Cedex, France
| | - Martin F Polz
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Center for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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50
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Tang K, Wang W, Sun Y, Zhou Y, Wang P, Guo Y, Wang X. Prophage Tracer: precisely tracing prophages in prokaryotic genomes using overlapping split-read alignment. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49:e128. [PMID: 34551431 PMCID: PMC8682789 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2020] [Revised: 09/04/2021] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
The life cycle of temperate phages includes a lysogenic cycle stage when the phage integrates into the host genome and becomes a prophage. However, the identification of prophages that are highly divergent from known phages remains challenging. In this study, by taking advantage of the lysis-lysogeny switch of temperate phages, we designed Prophage Tracer, a tool for recognizing active prophages in prokaryotic genomes using short-read sequencing data, independent of phage gene similarity searching. Prophage Tracer uses the criterion of overlapping split-read alignment to recognize discriminative reads that contain bacterial (attB) and phage (attP) att sites representing prophage excision signals. Performance testing showed that Prophage Tracer could predict known prophages with precise boundaries, as well as novel prophages. Two novel prophages, dsDNA and ssDNA, encoding highly divergent major capsid proteins, were identified in coral-associated bacteria. Prophage Tracer is a reliable data mining tool for the identification of novel temperate phages and mobile genetic elements. The code for the Prophage Tracer is publicly available at https://github.com/WangLab-SCSIO/Prophage_Tracer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaihao Tang
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 1119, Haibin Road, Nansha District, Guangzhou 511458, China.,Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), No. 1119, Haibin Road, Nansha District, Guangzhou 511458, China
| | - Weiquan Wang
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 1119, Haibin Road, Nansha District, Guangzhou 511458, China.,Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), No. 1119, Haibin Road, Nansha District, Guangzhou 511458, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yamin Sun
- Research Center for Functional Genomics and Biochip, 23 Hongda St., Tianjin 300457, China
| | - Yiqing Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 1119, Haibin Road, Nansha District, Guangzhou 511458, China.,Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), No. 1119, Haibin Road, Nansha District, Guangzhou 511458, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Pengxia Wang
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 1119, Haibin Road, Nansha District, Guangzhou 511458, China.,Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), No. 1119, Haibin Road, Nansha District, Guangzhou 511458, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yunxue Guo
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 1119, Haibin Road, Nansha District, Guangzhou 511458, China.,Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), No. 1119, Haibin Road, Nansha District, Guangzhou 511458, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaoxue Wang
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 1119, Haibin Road, Nansha District, Guangzhou 511458, China.,Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), No. 1119, Haibin Road, Nansha District, Guangzhou 511458, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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