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Journal of Bacteriology, May 1999, p. 2902-2913, Vol. 181, No. 9
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Characterization of the Major Control Region of Vibrio cholerae Bacteriophage K139: Immunity, Exclusion, and Integration

Jutta Nesper,1 Julia Blaß,1 Michael Fountoulakis,2 and Joachim Reidl1,*

Zentrum für Infektionsforschung, Universität Würzburg, 97070 Würzburg, Germany,1 and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Pharmaceutical Research-Gene Technology, Basel, Switzerland2

Received 13 November 1998/Accepted 22 February 1999

The temperate bacteriophage K139 is highly associated with pathogenic O1 Vibrio cholerae strains. The nucleotide sequence of the major control region of K139 was determined. The sequences of four (cox, cII, cI, and int) of the six deduced open reading frames and their gene order indicated that K139 is related to the P2 bacteriophage family. Two genes of the lysogenic transcript from the mapped promoter PL encode homologs to the proteins CI and Int, with deduced functions in prophage formation and maintenance. Between the cI and int genes, two additional genes were identified: orf2, which has no significant similarity to any other gene, and the formerly characterized gene glo. Further analysis revealed that Orf2 is involved in preventing superinfection. In a previous report, we described that mutations in glo cause an attenuation effect in the cholera mouse model (J. Reidl and J. J. Mekalanos, Mol. Microbiol. 18:685-701, 1995). In this report, we present strong evidence that Glo participates in phage exclusion. Glo was characterized to encode a 13.6-kDa periplasmic protein which inhibits phage infection at an early step, hence preventing reinfection of vibriophage K139 into K139 lysogenic cells. Immediately downstream of gene int, the attP site was identified. Upon analysis of the corresponding attB site within the V. cholerae chromosome, it became evident that phage K139 is integrated between the flagellin genes flaA and flaC of O1 El Tor and O139 V. cholerae lysogenic strains.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Zentrum für Infektionsforschung, Universität Würzburg, Röntgenring 11, 97070 Würzburg, Germany. Phone: (49) (0)931 312153. Fax: (49) (0)931 312578. E-mail: joachim.reidl{at}rzroe.uni-wuerzburg.de.

Journal of Bacteriology, May 1999, p. 2902-2913, Vol. 181, No. 9
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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